DH 192 




X K '--WsJ /% -W&J J 






c° . 



o 













4 o 




> ^, 




°0 

4 O - 0! 





*» v .-^ 



















'•1 ar-* ^ w 7 y* 




x^-TV. 




4 o 
























£t»* a 


















^0* 




4-* *« 






O > 




















(V o « <i *^ ^ V 



***** 



* v .. 





F* 



THE SIEGE OF LEYDEN 



CONDENSED FROM 



MOTLEY'S "THE RISE OF THE 
DUTCH REPUBLIC" 



EDITED WITH INTRODUCTION AND NOTES BY 

WILLIAM ELLIOT GRIFFIS, L.H.D. 

AUTHOR OF " BRAVE LITTLE HOLLAND," " THE AMERICAN IN 
HOLLAND," " THE STUDENT'S MOTLEY," ETC. 



WITH NINETEEN ILLUSTRATIONS FROM OLD DUTCH 
PRINTS AND PHOTOGRAPHS, AND A MAP 



BOSTON, U.S.A. 

D. C. HEATH & CO., PUBLISHERS 

1900 




THE RELIEF FLEET DASHING THROUGH THE LAND DIVIDER. 
From an old Dutch print. 



4249 



Library of Congress 




Iwo COPIES RErm'r 




JAN 9 1901 








»<&.*.(Z2£:. 




SECOND COPY 




Odivwed to 




ORDER DIVISION 




JAN 34 1901 





Copyright, 1900, 
By D. C. Heath & Co. 



CONTENTS. 

PAGE 

Introduction i 

Events Leading to the Siege of Leyden n 

i 
The Siege, Rescue, and Relief 32 

Notes 77 



list of illustrations. 

The Relief Fleet dashing through the Land Divider . Frontispiece 

The University of Leyden I 4 

Statue of Van der Werff 6 

The Site of John Robinson's House 8 

Leyden in the Middle Ages 9 

Map 10 

William of Orange . . . 15 

Monument at Heiliger Lee ........ 25 

The Old Cradle of Liberty 30 

A Street in Leyden ^ 

House in Leyden, 1620 39 

The Dykes along the Yssel 42 

The Ancient Tower of Hengist 45 

Dutch Burgher Costumes ......... 54 

St. Pancras Church 57 

Bird's-eye View of the Siege ........ 60 

The Relief Boats under Admiral Boisot 65 

City Hall, Leyden 69 

Beggar Medals 71 

Gateway showing the Arms of Leyden ... • • • 75 



THE SIEGE OF LEYDEN. 

(introductory.) 

The story of the siege of Leyden belongs not to the Dutch 
only, but to the world's history of freedom. No other city on * 
the continent of Europe is so closely connected with American 
history. 

After the siege of Leyden had been raised, the Dutch patri- 
ots were so encouraged that they were soon able to form that 
union of seven states which gave our fathers so inspiring a 
precedent. It was no less a personage than Benjamin Franklin 
that wrote, " In love of liberty and bravery in the defence of it, - 
she (Holland) has been our great example." 

The long war which the Netherlands waged with Spain for 
freedom and independence lasted eighty years, from 1572 to - 
1648. It was a struggle of the new forces which were to make 
modern civilization and a new world, against the old repression x 
of the middle ages. Then brave little Holland led the van. 
A small country, consisting chiefly of swamp and sand, with 
only here and there patches of hard land, making in all not 
over six thousand square miles, on which lived only about eight 
hundred thousand people, was pitted against mighty Spain, 
then the richest and strongest country in the world, with the 
finest army in Europe to do King Philip's bidding, and with 
the gold and silver mines of America to keep his treasury full. 
It seemed like a shepherd boy with a sling and stones, going 
out to fight Goliath. 

At first the Dutch had no regular army raised on their own 
soil. They depended, much more than the Spaniards, upon 



2 The Siege of Leyden. 

mercenaries or hired soldiers. Theirs were raised in Germany, 
France, and Great Britain. They could not do much fighting 
on land, for their raw militia could not stand against the disci- 
plined veterans of Spain and Italy. Yet, in their own boats on 
lake and river, and on their ships at sea, they were invincible. 
Nearly all the battles on shore were sieges. The fortified 
places were walled cities, such as Rotterdam, Delft, Leyden, 
Haarlem, and Alkmaar. At Mook, was almost the only pitched 
battle which the Dutch fought, until their republican army won 
at Nieuport, July 2, 1600. Between the Spaniards victorious 
in the field, and the Dutch triumphant on deck, this war was 
as curious as it was amphibious. 

After the conflicts at Heiligerlee, Brill, Rotterdam, Haarlem, 
and Alkmaar, the Spanish army under Don Frederick, son 
of the Duke of Alva, settled down during the winter of 15 73— 
1574, to besiege Leyden. This very old city, one of the most 
important in the Netherlands, famous for its rich cloth factories, 
had been among the first to raise the flag of Orange in 1572. 
It was built on hard land and protected against the possible 
inroads of both river and sea floods by great dykes, the Land--' 
divider, the Green Way, and the Church Way. For Leyden 
to be captured by the Spaniards would have meant almost 
hopeless ruin to the cause of liberty, for the city was right in 
the heart of Holland. 

To relieve the situation, three of the brothers of William the 
Silent, John, Louis, and Henry, raised an army of mercenaries 
in Germany. Marching into the province of Limburg, they 
hoped to capture the city of Maastricht, turn northward, join 
the forces of their brother, William of Orange, deliver Leyden, 
and drive out the Spaniards. Yet it seemed fated that the 
Dutch must be beaten in every land battle. On the 14th of 
April, 1574, on the heath of Mook, the Orange princes Louis 
and Henry lost their lives, and the patriot army was annihi- 
lated. The Spaniards then returned with redoubled vigor to 
Leyden. They surrounded the city with their armies and, 



Introductory. 3 

garrisoning a chain of over sixty forts, pressed the siege with - 
science, vigilance, and valor. 

How the work of war went on without, while famine and 
pestilence raged within, and how the city was relieved by 
cutting the dykes and making the ocean fight for the Dutch, 
drowning the land and driving out the Spaniards, is told in 
Motley's brilliant pages. To his famous chapter, we have 
added some notes, in order that every American boy may 
learn how the salt water of the sea, and the patriotic valor of 
the Dutch, drove off the forces of tyranny, and made Leyden a 
beacon light in the history of liberty. 

After the siege, Leyden is directly connected with American 
history. In 1610, the Pilgrim fathers and mothers and chil-^ 
dren, founders of Massachusetts and beginners of New Eng- 
land, came to this " fair city of a beautiful situation," as 
Bradford calls it, to live within its bounds eleven years, finding 
an asylum and a home from persecution in England. The 
Pilgrim boys, who afterward were the men of the Mayflower, 
were here fed with true stories of heroism. They saw in the 
City Hall, or " State House," the stuffed carrier pigeons that 
had brought messages during the siege, and the Spanish cook- 
ing pot which the Spaniards, so hurriedly in their retreat, left 
full of smoking hotch-potch. Here, with the Dutch, they cele- 
brated the city's Thanksgiving Day of October 3d. Here they 
were reenforced in their ideas of liberty, both under the Leyden 
city republic and the national federal republic of the Dutch 
United States, formed in 1579 by the Union of Utrecht. 
This had a written constitution, the red, white, and blue flag, 
issued a Declaration of Independence in July, 1581, and was 
founded on common school education. 

Here, too, and just at the very time when the Pilgrims lived 
in Leyden, was fought out, sometimes indeed with fortifications, , 
armed men, and bloodshed, but in the main with' argument 
and debate, though with military force too, the conflict be- 
tween State Sovereignty and National Supremacy, Barneveldt 



4 The Siege of Leyden. 

being the Calhoun, and Maurice the Union general, as William 
had been the Lincoln, of the Dutch United States. The victory 
of the Federalists prevented Secession, secured permanent 
union, and led to the colonization of the New Netherland, or 
the region of the Middle States in our own country. 




The University of Leyden. 

From a Photograph. 

Leyden University, given to the city as a reward for the 
valor of the Leydenese, and long without a superior in Europe, 
became one of the great shining lights of learning in Europe. 
After Anglican Universities had been closed to the nation at 
large, admitting the adherents of one church only, English- 
speaking Non-Conformists, doctors, lawyers, and ministers, in- 
cluding four of the Pilgrim company, and not a few Americans, 
two among them being the sons of our envoy, John Adams, 



Introductory. 5 

were educated in Leyden, to the number of nearly six thousand. 
With the Leyden jar, invented here, Dr. Franklin, our first 
American electrician, found his way to the discovery of the 
lightning rod. 

Professor John Luzac, the friend and correspondent of 
Adams, Franklin, and our Revolutionary fathers, and one of the 
university faculty, published during our war for freedom, in his 
periodical, authentic news of the Revolution and John Adams's 
addresses, which were read all over Europe. In Leyden was 
generated much of that sentiment of sympathy with the United 
States of America, which moved the people of the Dutch Re- 
public to send us army officers and naval captains, and finally, 
in 1780, to declare war against Great Britain, to become our 
ally, and to lend us fourteen million dollars of hard money. 
When the Serapis was brought as a prize into Dutch waters, 
the streets of Leyden resounded with the song " Hier kommt 
Paul Jones Aan." 

After 1807, where Luzac's house stood there was for many 
years a ruin, caused by the explosion of gunpowder on a ship 
in the canal, by which Luzac was killed. It was long used as a 
drill ground, but since 1884 it has been laid out as a delightful 
park where golden-haired and blue-eyed children play. Above 
the flower beds, on which I read in 1898, in living bloom, 
" Honor to Queen Wilhelmina," rises a superb statue of the 
brave Burgomaster. Van der WerrT. He it was who, in 1574, 
refused to surrender to the Spaniards, declaring with his men 
that they would eat their left hands while fighting with their 
right, rather than yield. Four bas-reliefs on the granite pedes- 
tal represent finely the scenes of battle, relief, worship, and joy, 
so grandly pictured in words by our countryman, John Lothrop 
Motley, once a Boston boy. 

Motley lived for a time on Park Street, opposite the Com- 
mon, but long in the Netherlands. His heart ever thrilled with 
patriotic American pride. He sympathized with that struggle 
of the Dutchmen for liberty which made the English Common- 



6 The Siege of Leyden. 

wealth and the American Republic possible. He showed us 
why the study of Dutch history is so important. 

To-day the American tourist can visit the University and its 
v grounds, and the Burg, or castle, or " Tower of Hengist," in the 




Statue of Van der Werff. Bas-relief — Battle at the Causeway. 

From a Photograph. 

centre of the city, whence the besieged could look out over the 
country, watching the enemy's camps, the carrier pigeons bring- 
ing in news, and the coming fleet of rescue. This " tower," 
as old as the prehistoric Kelts as well as the Teutons and the 
Romans, rises near St. Pancras Church, where the Burgo- 
master cheered the famishing. He may stand near the water 
gate, which the relief boats reached, the sailors throwing up 



Introductory. 7 

loaves and herring to the starving. He can see the house in 
the Clock Alley, marked by a stone tablet, where the Pilgrims 
and John Robinson and Elder Brewster and Governor William - 
Bradford lived or worshipped, the site of the Commandery, at 
which Miles Standish doubtless often came on military business ; 
the little street, or Choir Alley, where Brewster kept going his 
printing press, issuing books which so annoyed King James of 
England ; the great bronze tablet on St. Peter's Church, in 
which Robinson was buried, showing the Mayflower and telling 
of New England ; the old City Hall, up the steps of which the 
blushing maidens and lovers who became the makers of Massa- 
chusetts climbed to get their marriage certificates ; the Muni- 
cipal Museum, where relics of the siege, including the captured 
Spanish flags, are kept; the canal along which the Pilgrim 
company began the voyage to Cape Cod ; and, finally, the 
fire-proof building on the quay, named after Admiral Boisot, 
on the shelves of which are more records of Pilgrim names and 
of their doings than can be found in all Great Britain. 

At Delfshaven, where the dykes were cut to relieve Leyden, 
he sees the place of the SpeedweWs anchorage and Pilgrims' / 
departure, and looks over to Pilgrim Quay on the river island. 
Visiting Mook church, he may find a new and noble monument 
in honor of the two Nassau princes whose generous blood was 
poured out for law and freedom. In Delft, the American can 
visit or worship in the Great Church in which William the 
Silent sat on the Sunday morning when in his pew he received 
the news of the rescue of Leyden, and where, after he, like our 
Lincoln, had been assassinated, his dust lies ; and in which also, 
on the 4th of July, 1899, by the order of the government of the 
United States, the American delegation to the Peace Confer- 
ence at The Hague laid a wreath of silver leaves on the grave 
of Hugo Grotius, the father of International Law. 

It is no wonder that John Adams in 1780 wrote, "The Origi- 
nals of the two republics are so much alike that the history of 
one seems but the transcript of that of the other. . . ." 



The Siege of Leyden. 




Site of John Robinson's House in Bell Alley. 

From a Photograph. 



Introductory. 9 

The oldest street in New England, at Plymouth, and several 
towns and churches in the United States, are named after 
Leyden, the city of the brave siege. Of this Motley has 
written so eloquently and his narrative here reprinted is 
illustrated from old Dutch prints and photographs. 

WILLIAM ELLIOT GRIFFIS. 

Ithaca, N.Y. 




Leyden in the Middle Ages. 

From an Old Print. 



CHAPTER I. 

EVENTS LEADING TO THE SIEGE OF LEYDEN. 

From the invasion of the Netherlands by a Spanish army, 
led by the Duke of Alva, in 1567, until the resignation of 
this officer and his return to Spain, seven years had passed. 
Alva^s successor was Don Louis de Requesens, Grand Com- 
mander of Castile and late Governor of Milan. One of his 
first 77ieasures on assuming his new duties in the Nether- 
lands in 1573, was to make inquiry into the finances. He 
knew only too well that advantages gained by the victories of 
unpaid soldiers were quickly lost by mutinies. 

The rebellion had already been an expensive matter 
to the Crown. The army in the Netherlands numbered 
more than sixty-two thousand men, eight thousand being 
Spaniards, the rest Walloons and Germans. It seemed 
probable that it would require nearly the whole annual 
produce of the American mines to sustain the war. The 
transatlantic gold and silver, disinterred from the depths 
where they had been buried for ages, were employed, not 
to expand the current of a healthy, life-giving commerce, 
but to be melted into blood. The sweat and the tortures 
of the King's pagan subjects in the primeval forests of 
the New World were made subsidiary to the extermina- 
tion of his Netherland people, and the destruction of an 
ancient civilization. To this end had Columbus discov- 
ered a hemisphere for Castile and Aragon, and the new 
Indies revealed their hidden treasures ? 

Walloons : Belgian Netherlanders. 
11 



12 The Siege of Leyden. 

Forty millions of ducats had been spent. Six and a 
half millions of arrearages were due to the army, while 
its current expenses were six hundred thousand a month. 
The military expenses alone of the Netherlands were 
accordingly more than seven millions of dollars yearly, 
and the mines of the New World produced, during the 
half century of Philip's reign, an average of only eleven. 
Against this constantly increasing deficit, there was not 
a stiver in the exchequer, nor the means of raising one. 
Confiscation had ceased to afford a permanent revenue, 
and the estates obstinately refused to grant a dollar. 
Such was the condition to which the unrelenting tyranny 
and the financial experiments of Alva had reduced the 
country. 

In the embarrassed condition of affairs, and while 
waiting for further supplies, the Commander was 
secretly disposed to try the effect of a pardon. The 
object was to deceive the people and to gain time; 
for there was no intention of conceding liberty of con- 
science, of withdrawing foreign troops, or of assembling 
the states-general. It was, however, not possible to 
apply these hypocritical measures of conciliation imme- 
diately. The war was in full career and could not be 
arrested even in that wintry season. The patriots held 
Mondragon closely besieged in Middelburg, the last 
point in the Isle of Walcheren which held for the 

A ducat contained 3.42 grammes of fine gold, and was worth about 
$2.30, or in present value $10. 

Stiver : Two Dutch cents, the twentieth part of a guilder. 

Estates: The provincial legislature. Alva: See note I. 

Isle of Walcheren : The southwestern and most important of the 
islands of Zealand, containing the two cities, Flushing and Middel- 
burg, and commanding the navigation of the Scheldt River. See 
map. 



Events Leading to the Siege of Ley den. 13 

King. There was a considerable treasure in money 
and merchandise shut up in that city ; and, moreover, 
so deserving and distinguished an officer as Mondragon 
could not be abandoned to his fate. At the same time, 
famine was pressing him sorely, and, by the end of the 
year, garrison and townspeople had nothing but rats, 
mice, dogs, cats, and such repulsive substitutes for food, 
to support life withal. It was necessary to take imme- 
diate measures to relieve the place. 

On the other hand, the situation of the patriots was 
not very encouraging. Their superiority on the sea 
was unquestionable, for the Hollanders and Zealanders 
were the best sailors in the world, and they asked of 
their country no payment for their blood but thanks. 
The land forces, however, were usually mercenaries, 
who are apt to mutiny at the commencement of an 
action if, as was too often the case, their wages could 
not be paid. Holland was entirely cut in twain by 
the loss of Haarlem and the leaguer of Leyden, no 
communication between the dissevered portions being 
possible, except with difficulty and danger. The estates, 
although they had done much for the cause, and were 
prepared to do much more, were too apt to wrangle 
about economical details. They irritated the Prince 
of Orange by huckstering about subsidies to a degree 
which his proud and generous nature could hardly brook. 
He had strong hopes from France. Louis of Nassau had 
held secret interviews with the Duke of Alen^on and the 
Duke of Anjou, now King of Poland, at Blamont. Alen- 
gon had assured him secretly, affectionately, and warmly 
that he would be as sincere a friend to the cause as were 
his two royal brothers. The Count had even received 
The Prince of Orange : See note 2. 



14 The Siege of Leyden. 

one hundred thousand livres in hand, as an earnest of 
the favorable intentions of France, and was now busily 
engaged, at the instance of the Prince, in levying an 
army in Germany for the relief of Leyden and the 
rest of Holland, while William, on his part, was omit- 
ting nothing, whether by representations to the estates 
or by secret foreign missions and correspondence, to 
further the cause of the suffering country. 

The most pressing matter, upon the Great Com- 
mander's arrival, was obviously to relieve the city of 
Middelburg. Mondragon would soon be obliged to 
capitulate, unless he should promptly receive supplies. 
Requesens, accordingly, collected seventy-five ships at 
Bergen op Zoom, but it was not the intention of the 
Prince of Orange to allow this expedition to save the 
city. The Spanish generals, however valiant, were to 
learn that their genius was not amphibious, and that 
the Beggars of the Sea were still invincible on their 
own element, even if their brethren of the land had 
occasionally quailed. 

Admiral Boisot's fleet had moved up the Scheldt and 
taken a position nearly opposite to Bergen op Zoom. On 

Livre : An old French coin, worth a franc, or nearly twenty cents, 
or in the value of to-day, about eighty cents, money being worth 
about four times more then than now. 

Mondragon : See note 3. 

Bergen op Zoom : There are twelve other places in the Nether- 
lands called Bergen, but Bergen op Zoom at the western edge of 
North Brabant, facing Zealand and the waterways into the country, 
is "the key to Holland. " 

Beggars of the Sea: See note 10. 

Ad?niral Boisot was one of the first and greatest of the command- 
ers of the Holland navy, losing an eye in this battle of January, 1574, 
winning again at Antwerp, and leading the fleet that relieved Leyden. 



Events Leading to the Siege of Leyden. 15 

the 20th of January the Prince of Orange, embarking 
from Zierikzee, came to make them a visit before the 




William of Orange. 

After the Delft Portrait. 



impending action. His galley, conspicuous for its 
elegant decorations, was exposed for some time to the 



1 6 The Siege of Leyden. 

artillery of the fort, but providentially escaped unharmed. 
He assembled all the officers of his armada, and, in brief 
but eloquent language, reminded them how necessary it 
was to the salvation of the whole country that they should 
prevent the city of Middelburg — the key to the whole 
of Zealand, already upon the point of falling into the 
hands of the patriots — from being now wrested from 
their grasp. On the sea, at least, the Hollanders and 
Zealanders were at home. The officers and men, with 
one accord, rent the air with their cheers. They swore 
that they would shed every drop of blood in their veins, 
but they would sustain the Prince and the country ; and 
they solemnly vowed not only to serve, if necessary, with- 
out wages, but to sacrifice all that they possessed in the 
world rather than abandon the cause of their fatherland. 
Having by his presence and his language aroused their 
valor to so high a pitch of enthusiasm, the Prince 
departed for Delft, to make arrangements to drive the 
Spaniards from the siege of Leyden. 

On the 29th of January, the fleet of Romero sailed 
from Bergen, disposed in three divisions, each number- 
ing twenty-five vessels of different sizes. 

It was, however, obvious from the beginning that the 
Spanish fleet were not likely to achieve that triumph 
over the patriots which was necessary before they could 
relieve Middelburg. After fifteen ships had been taken 
and twelve hundred royalists slain, the remainder of the 
enemy's fleet retreated into Bergen. 

Romero, whose ship had grounded, sprang out of a 
port-hole and swam ashore, followed by such of his men 
as were able to imitate him. He landed at the very 
feet of the Grand Commander, who, wet and cold, had 
been standing all day upon the dyke of Schakerloo, in 



Events Leading to the Siege of Ley den. 17 

the midst of a pouring rain, only to witness the total 
defeat of his armada at last. " I told your Excellency," 
said Romero, coolly, as he climbed, all dripping, on the 
bank, " that I was a land-fighter and not a sailor. If 
you were to give me the command of a hundred fleets, 
I believe that none of them would fare better than this 
has done." The Governor and his discomfited but 
philosophical lieutenant, then returned to Bergen, and 
thence to Brussels, acknowledging that the city of Mid- 
delburg must fall, while Sancho d'Avila, hearing of the 
disaster which had befallen his countrymen, brought his 
fleet, with the greatest expedition, back to Antwerp. 
Thus the gallant Mondragon was abandoned to his 
fate. 

That fate could no longer be protracted. The city 
of Middelburg had reached and passed the starvation 
point. Still Mondragon was determined not to yield at 
discretion, although very willing to capitulate. 

The Prince of Orange granted honorable conditions, 
which on the 18th of February were drawn up in five 
articles, and signed. It was agreed that Mondragon 
and his troops should leave the place, with their arms, 
ammunition, and all their personal property. The citi- 
zens who remained were to take oath of fidelity to the 
Prince, as stadholder for his Majesty, and were to pay 
besides a subsidy of three hundred thousand florins. 

A few days afterward, the Prince entered the city, 
reorganized the magistracy, received the allegiance of 
the inhabitants, restored the ancient constitution, and 
liberally remitted two-thirds of the sum in which they 
had been mulcted. 

The Spaniards had thus been successfully driven from 
the Isle of Walcheren, leaving the Hollanders and 



1 8 The Siege of Leyden. 

Zealanders masters of the sea-coast. Since the siege 
of Alkmaar had been raised, however, the enemy had 
remained within the territory of Holland. Leyden was 
closely invested, the country in a desperate condition, 
and all communication between its different cities nearly 
suspended. It was comparatively easy for the Prince 
of Orange to equip and man his fleets. The genius 
and habits of the people made them at home upon the 
water, and inspired them with a feeling of superiority 
to their adversaries. It was not so upon land. Strong 
to resist, patient to suffer, the Hollanders, although 
terrible in defence, had not the necessary discipline or 
experience to meet the veteran legions of Spain, with 
confidence, in the open field. To raise the siege of 
Leyden, the main reliance of the Prince was upon Count 
Louis, who was again in Germany. In the latter days 
of Alva's administration, William had written to his 
brothers, urging them speedily to arrange the details of 
a campaign, of which he forwarded them a sketch. As 
soon as a sufficient force had been levied in Germany, 
an attempt was to be made upon Maastricht. If that 
failed, Louis was to cross the Maas, in the neighborhood 
of Stochem, make his way toward the Prince's own 
city of Gertruidenberg, and thence make a junction with 
his brother in the neighborhood of Delft. They were 
then to take up a position together between Haarlem 
and Leyden. In that case it seemed probable that the 
Spaniards would find themselves obliged to fight at a 
great disadvantage, or to abandon the country. 

In pursuance of this plan, Louis had been actively 
engaged all the earlier part of the winter in levying 
troops and raising supplies in those ever swarming 
nurseries of mercenary warriors, the smaller German 



Events Leading to the Siege of Ley den. 19 

states. With these three thousand cavalry and six 
thousand foot, toward the end of February, Louis 
crossed the Rhine in a heavy snowstorm, and bent his 
course toward Maastricht. All the three brothers of 
the Prince accompanied this little army, besides Duke 
Christopher, son of the Elector Palatine. 

Before the end of the month the army reached the 
Maas, and encamped within four miles of Maastricht, 
on the opposite side of the river. The garrison, com- 
manded by Montesdoca, was weak, but the news of 
the warlike preparations in Germany had preceded the 
arrival of Count Louis. Requesens, feeling the gravity 
of the occasion, had issued orders for an immediate levy 
of eight thousand cavalry in Germany, with a propor- 
tionate number of infantry. At the same time he had 
directed Don Bernardino de Mendoza, with some com- 
panies of cavalry, then stationed in Breda, to throw 
himself without delay into Maastricht. Don Sancho 
d'Avila was intrusted with the general care of resisting 
the hostile expedition. That general had forthwith 
collected all the troops which could be spared from 
every town where they were stationed, had strengthened 
the cities of Antwerp, Ghent, Nimwegen, and Valen- 
ciennes, where there were known to be many secret 
adherents of Orange ; and with the remainder of his 
forces had put himself in motion to oppose the entrance 
of Louis into Brabant and his junction with his brother 
in Holland. Braccamonte had been despatched to Ley- 
den, in order instantly to draw off the forces which 
were besieging the city. Thus Louis had already ef- 
fected something of importance by the very news of his 
approach. 

Meantime the Prince of Orange had raised six thou- 



20 The Siege of Leyden. 

sand infantry, whose rendezvous was the Isle of Bom- 
mel. He was disappointed at the paucity of the troops 
which Louis had been able to collect, but he sent mes- 
sengers immediately to him, with a statement of his 
own condition, and with directions to join him in the 
Isle of Bommel, as soon as Maastricht should be re- 
duced. It was, however, not in the destiny of Louis to 
reduce Maastricht. When he encamped, opposite the 
city, he found the river neither frozen nor open, the ice 
obstructing the navigation, but being too weak for the 
weight of an army. 

On the 8th of April, he took his course along the right 
bank of the Maas, between that river and the Rhine, in 
the direction of Nimwegen. Avila promptly decided to 
follow him, upon the opposite bank of the Maas, intend- 
ing to throw himself between Louis and the Prince of 
Orange, and by a rapid march to give the Count battle, 
before he could join his brother. On the 13th, Louis 
encamped at the village of Mook on the Maas, near the 
confines of Cleves. Sending out his scouts, he learned, 
to his vexation, that the enemy had outmarched him, and 
were now within cannon-shot. On the 14th, Avila had 
constructed a bridge of boats, over which he had effected 
the passage of the Maas with his whole army, so that on 
the Count's arrival at Mook, he found the enemy facing 
him, on the same side of the river, and directly in his 
path. It was, therefore, obvious that, in this narrow 
space between the Waal and the Maas, where they 
were now all assembled, Louis must achieve a victory, 
unaided, or abandon his expedition, and leave the 

Mook: I visited the desolate heath of Mook in 1895. The date 
given in Baedeker's "Guide Book," March 15, 1574, is incorrect, a 
month too early. 



Events Leading to the Siege of Leyden. 21 

Hollanders to despair. Thrust, as he was, like a wedge 
into the very heart of a hostile country, he was obliged 
to force his way through, or to remain in his enemy's 
power. Moreover, and worst of all, his troops were in 
a state of mutiny for their wages. While he talked to 
them of honor, they howled to him for money. It was 
the custom of these mercenaries to mutiny on the eve of 
battle — of the Spaniards, after it had been fought. By 
the one course, a victory was often lost which might have 
been achieved ; by the other, when won, it was rendered 
fruitless. 

Avila had chosen his place of battle with great skill. 
On the right bank of the Maas, upon a narrow plain 
which spread from the river to a chain of hills within 
cannon-shot on the north, lay the little village of Mook. 
The Spanish general knew that his adversary had the 
superiority in cavalry, and that within this compressed 
space it would not be possible to derive much advantage 
from the circumstance. 

On the 14th, both armies were drawn up in battle 
array at earliest dawn, Louis having strengthened his 
position by a deep trench, which extended from Mook, 
where he had stationed ten companies of infantry, which 
thus rested on the village and the river. Next came the 
bulk of his infantry, disposed in a single square. On 
their right was his cavalry, arranged in four squadrons, 
as well as the narrow limits of the field would allow. A 
small portion of them, for want of space, were stationed 
on the hillside. 

Opposite, the forces of Don Sancho were drawn up 
in somewhat similar fashion. Twenty-five companies 
of Spaniards were disposed in four bodies of pikemen 
Pike?nen and musketeers: See note 4. 



22 The Siege of Leyden. 

and musketeers, their right resting on the river. On 
their left was the cavalry, disposed by Mendoza in the 
form of a half-moon — the horns garnished by two small 
bodies of sharpshooters. In the front ranks of the cav- 
alry were the mounted carabineers of Schenk ; behind 
were the Spanish lancers. The village of Mook lay 
between the two armies. 

The skirmishing began at early dawn, with an attack 
upon the trench, and continued some hours, without 
bringing on a general engagement. Toward ten 
o'clock, Count Louis became impatient. All the trump- 
ets of the patriots now rang out a challenge to their 
adversaries, and the Spaniards were just returning the 
defiance and preparing a general onset, when the 
Seigneur de Hierges and Baron Chevreaux arrived on 
the field. They brought with them a reenforcement of 
more than a thousand men, and the intelligence that 
Valdez was on his way with nearly five thousand more. 

The skirmishing at the trench was renewed with 
redoubled vigor, an additional force being sent against 
it. After a short and fierce struggle it was carried, and 
the Spaniards rushed into the village, but were soon dis- 
lodged by a larger detachment of infantry, which Count 
Louis sent to the rescue. The battle now became gen- 
eral at this point. 

Nearly all the patriot infantry were employed to 
defend the post ; nearly all the Spanish infantry were 
ordered to assail it. The Spaniards, dropping on their 
knees, according to custom said a Paternoster and an 
Ave Mary, and then rushed, in mass, to the attack. 
After a short but sharp conflict, the trench was again 

Paternoster : The first words of the LorcTs Prayer in Latin. 
Ave Maria : Hail Mary ! 



Events Leading to the Siege of Leyden. 23 

carried, and the patriots completely routed. Upon this, 
Count Louis charged with all his cavalry upon the 
enemy's horse, which had hitherto remained motionless. 
With the first shock the mounted arquebusiers of Schenk, 
constituting the vanguard, were broken, and fled in all 
directions. So great was their panic, as Louis drove 
them before him, that they never stopped till they had 
swum or been drowned in the river. The patriot cavalry, 
mostly carabineers, wheeled after the first discharge, and 
retired to reload their pieces, but before they were ready 
for another attack, the Spanish lancers and the German 
black troopers, who had all remained firm, set upon them 
with great spirit. A fierce, bloody, and confused action 
succeeded, in which the patriots were completely over- 
thrown. 

Count Louis, finding that the day was lost, and his 
army cut to pieces, rallied around him a little band of 
troopers, among whom were his brother, Count Henry, 
and Duke Christopher, and together they made a final 
and desperate charge. It was the last that was ever 
seen of them on earth. They all went down together, 
in the midst of the fight, and were never heard of more. 
The battle terminated, as usual in those conflicts of 
mutual hatred, in a horrible butchery, hardly any of 
the patriot army being left to tell the tale of their 
disaster. At least four thousand were killed, including 
those who were slain on the field, those who were suffo- 
cated in the marshes or the river, and those who were 
burned in the farmhouses where they had taken refuge. 
It was uncertain which of those various modes of death 

Arquebusiers : The arquebus was shorter, lighter, and older in 
form than the musket, and used chiefly by cavalry. The carabine 
was still shorter and lighter. 



24 The Siege of Leyden. 

had been the lot of Count Louis, his brother, and his 
friend. The mystery was never solved. They had, 
probably, all died on the field ; but, stripped of their 
clothing, with their faces trampled upon by the hoofs 
of horses, it was not possible to distinguish them from 
the less illustrious dead. 

Thus perished Louis of Nassau in the flower of his 
manhood, in the midst of a career already crowded with 
events such as might suffice for a century of ordinary 
existence. It is difficult to find in history a more frank 
and loyal character. His life was noble ; the elements 
of the heroic and the genial so mixed in him that the 
imagination contemplates him, after three centuries, with 
an almost affectionate interest. He was not a great 
man. He was far from possessing the subtle genius or 
the expansive views of his brother ; but, called as he was 
to play a prominent part in one of the most complicated 
and imposing dramas ever enacted by man, he, never- 
theless, always acquitted himself with honor. His direct, 
fearless, and energetic nature commanded alike the re- 
spect of friend and foe. As a politician, a soldier, and 
a diplomatist, he was busy, bold, and true. He accom- 
plished by sincerity what many thought could only be 
compassed by trickery. Dealing often with the most 
adroit and most treacherous of princes and statesmen, 
he frequently carried his point, and he never stooped to 
flattery. From the time when, attended by his " twelve 
disciples," he assumed the most prominent part in the 
negotiations with Margaret of Parma, through all the 
various scenes of the revolution, through all the con- 
ferences with Spaniards, Italians, Huguenots, mal- 
contents, Flemish councillors, or German princes, he 
was the consistent and unflinching supporter of religious 



Events Leading to the Siege of Leyden. 25 

liberty and constitutional law. The battle of Heiliger 
Lee and the capture of Mons were his most signal tri- 
umphs, but the fruits of both were annihilated by sub- 
sequent disaster. His headlong courage was his chief - 
foible. The French accused him of losing the battle 




Monument at Heiliger Lee. Batavian Lion — Count Adolhi. 

From a Photograph. 

of Moncontour by his impatience to engage ; yet they 
acknowledged that to his masterly conduct it was owing 
that their retreat was effected in so successful and even 
so brilliant a manner. He was censured for rashness 
and precipitancy in this last and fatal enterprise, but 
the reproach seems entirely without foundation. The 

Heiliger Lee: See note 7. 



0.6 The Siege of Leyden. 

expedition, as already stated, had been deliberately ar- 
ranged, with the full cooperation of his brother, and 
had been preparing several months. That he was able 
to set no larger force on foot than that which he led 
into Gueldres was not his fault. But for the floating ice 
which barred his passage of the Maas, he would have 
surprised Maastricht ; but for the mutiny, which ren- 
dered his mercenary soldiers cowards, he might have 
defeated Avila at Mookerheyde. Had he done so he 
would have joined his brother in the Isle of Bommel in 
triumph ; the Spaniards would, probably, have been 
expelled from Holland, and Leyden saved the horrors of 
that memorable siege which she was soon called upon to 
endure. These results were not in his destiny. Provi- 
dence had decreed that he should perish in the midst of 
his usefulness ; that the Prince, in his death, should lose 
the right hand which had been so swift to execute his 
various plans and the faithful fraternal heart which 
had always responded so readily to every throb of his 
own. 

In figure, he was below the middle height, but martial 
and noble in his bearing. The expression of his coun- 
tenance was lively ; his manner frank and engaging. 
All who knew him personally loved him, and he was the 
idol of his gallant brethren. His mother always ad- 
dressed him as her dearly beloved, her heart's-cherished 
Louis. "You must come soon to me," she wrote in the 
last year of his life, " for I have many matters to ask 

Mookerheyde : Heath of Mook. In the Dutch language, Mooker- 
heyde is the synonym for the place to which no one would wish to 
go, and the word serves as a common malediction. 

His mother was Juliana of Stolberg, one of the noblest women of 
the sixteenth century. 



Events Leading to the Siege of Leyden. 27 

your advice upon ; and I thank you beforehand, for you 
have loved me as your mother all the days of your life ; 
for which may God Almighty have you in his holy 
keeping." 

It was the doom of this high-born, true-hearted dame 
to be called upon to weep oftener for her children than 
is the usual lot of mothers. Count Adolphus had 
already perished in his youth on the field of Heiliger 
Lee, and now Louis and his young brother Henry, who 
had scarcely attained his twenty-sixth year, and whose 
short life had been passed in that faithful service to the 
cause of freedom which was the instinct of his race, had 
both found a bloody and an unknown grave. 

Count John, who had already done so much for the 
cause, was fortunately spared to do much more. Al- 
though of the expedition, and expecting to participate 
in the battle, he had, at the urgent solicitation of all the 
leaders, left the army for a brief season, in order to 
obtain at Cologne a supply of money for the mutinous 
troops. He had started upon this mission two days 
before the action in which he, too, would otherwise have 
been sacrificed. The young Duke Christopher, "opti- 
mae indolis et magnae spei adolescens," who had per- 
ished on the same field, was sincerely mourned by the 
lovers of freedom. His father, the Elector, found his 
consolation in the Scriptures, and in the reflection that 
his son had died in the bed of honor, fighting for the 
cause of God. " 'Twas better thus," said that stern 
Calvinist, whose dearest wish was to " Calvinize the 

An unknown grave : See note 5. 
Count John : See note 6. 

Optima . . . adolescens: A youth of noblest genius and great 
hope. 



28 The Siege of Leyden. 

world," "than to have passed his time in idleness, which 
is the devil's pillow." 

Vague rumors of the catastrophe had spread far and 
wide. It was soon certain that Louis had been defeated, 
but, for a long time, conflicting reports were in circula- 
tion as to the fate of the leaders. The Prince of Orange, 
meanwhile, passed days of intense anxiety, expecting 
hourly to hear from his brothers, listening to dark ru- 
\ mors, which he refused to credit and could not contra- 
dict, and writing letters, day after day, long after the 
eyes which should have read the friendly missives were 
closed. 

The victory of the King's army at Mookerheyde had 
been rendered comparatively barren by the mutiny 
which broke forth the day after the battle. Three 
years' pay was due to the Spanish troops, and it was 
not surprising that upon this occasion one of those 
periodic rebellions should break forth, by which the 
royal cause was frequently so much weakened, and the 
royal governors so intolerably perplexed. The muti- 
neers, choosing an Eletto, or chief, and keeping disci- 
pline, marched to Antwerp and occupied that city and 
its chief fortress, the citadel. They raised an altar of 
chests and bales upon the public square, and celebrated 
mass under the open sky, solemnly swearing to be true 
to each other to the last. Carousing and merry-making 
went on at the expense of the citizens, who were exposed 
to nightly alarms from the boisterous mirth and ceaseless 
mischief-making of the soldiers. 

Before the end of the month, the Broad Council, 
exhausted by the incubus which had afflicted them so 
many weeks, acceded to the demand of Requesens. 
;» His brothers i See note 8. 



Events Leading to the Siege of Leyden. 29 

The four hundred thousand crowns which had been 
demanded were furnished, the Grand Commander ac- 
cepting them as a loan, and giving in return bonds duly 
signed and countersigned, together with a mortgage 
upon all the royal domains. The citizens received the 
documents, as a matter of form, but they had handled 
such securities before, and valued them but slightly. 

The mutineers now agreed to settle with the Gov- 
ernor-general, on condition of receiving all their wages, 
either in cash or cloth, together with a solemn promise 
of pardon for all their acts of insubordination. This 
pledge was formally rendered with appropriate religious 
ceremonies, by Requesens, in the cathedral. The pay- 
ments were made directly afterward, and a great ban- 
quet was held on the same day, by the whole mass of 
the soldiery, to celebrate the event. The feast took 
place on the place of the Meer, and was a scene of 
furious revelry. The soldiers, more thoughtless than 
children, had arrayed themselves in extemporaneous 
costumes, cut from the cloth which they had at last 
received in payment of their sufferings and their blood. 
Broadcloths, silks, satins, and gold-embroidered bro- 
cades, worthy of a queen's wardrobe, were hung in 
fantastic drapery around the sinewy forms and bronzed 
faces of the soldiery, who, the day before, had been 
clothed in rags. The mirth was fast and furious ; and 
scarce was the banquet finished before every drum-head 
became a gaming-table, around which gathered groups 
eager to sacrifice in a moment their dearly bought gold. 

The fortunate or the prudent had not yet succeeded 
in entirely plundering their companions, when the dis- 
tant booming of cannon was heard from the river. 
Instantly, accoutred as they were in their holiday and 



3° 



The Siege of Leyden. 



fantastic costumes, the soldiers, no longer mutinous, 
were summoned from banquet and gaming-table, and 




"The Old Cradle of Liberty" in Utrecht. 

(So named by the Dutch in the 16th century.) 
From a Photograph. 



were ordered forth upon the dykes. The patriot Ad- 
miral Boisot, who had so recently defeated the fleet of 
Bergen, under the eyes of the Grand Commander, had 



Events Leading to the Siege of Leyden. 31 

unexpectedly sailed up the Scheldt, determined to destroy 
the fleet of Antwerp, which upon that occasion had 
escaped. Between the forts of Lillo and Callao, he met 
with twenty-two vessels under the command of Vice- 
admiral Haemstede. After a short and sharp action, 
he was completely victorious. Fourteen of the enemy's 
ships were burned or sunk, with all their crews, and 
Admiral Haemstede was taken prisoner. The soldiers 
opened a warm fire of musketry upon Boisot from the 
dyke, to which he responded with his cannon. The 
distance of the combatants, however, made the action 
unimportant, and the patriots retired down the river, 
after achieving a complete victory. The Grand Com- 
mander was farther than ever from obtaining that foot- 
hold on the sea, which, as he had informed his sovereign, 
was the only means by which the Netherlands could be 
reduced. 



CHAPTER II. 

THE SIEGE, RESCUE, AND RELIEF. 

The invasion of Louis of Nassau had, as already 
stated, effected the raising of the first siege of Leyden. 
That leaguer had lasted from the 31st of October, 1573, 
to the 2 1 st of March, 1574, when the soldiers were sum- 
moned away to defend the frontier. By an extraordi- 
nary and culpable carelessness, the citizens, neglecting 
the advice of the Prince, had not taken advantage of 
the breathing time thus afforded them to victual the 
city and strengthen the garrison. They seemed to 
reckon more confidently upon the success of Count 
Louis than he had even done himself ; for it was very 
probable that, in case of his defeat, the siege would be 
instantly resumed. This natural result was not long in 
following the battle of Mookerheyde. 

On the 26th of May, Valdez reappeared before the 
place, at the head of eight thousand Walloons and Ger- 
mans, and Leyden was now destined to pass through 
a fiery ordeal. This city was one of the most beautiful 
s in the Netherlands. Placed in the midst of broad and 
fruitful pastures, which had been reclaimed by the hand 
of industry from the bottom of the sea, it was fringed 
with smiling villages, blooming gardens, fruitful or- 
chards. The ancient and, at last, decrepit Rhine, flow- 
ing languidly toward its sandy death-bed, had been 
multiplied into innumerable artificial currents, by which 

32 



The Siege, Rescue, and Relief. 



33 



the city was completely interlaced. These watery streets 
were shaded by lime trees, poplars, and willows, and 
crossed by one hundred and forty-five bridges, mostly 
of hammered stone. The houses were elegant, the 




A Street in Leyden. 



squares and streets spacious, airy, and clean, the 
churches and public edifices imposing, while the whole 
aspect of the place suggested thrift, industry, and 
comfort. 

Upon an artificial elevation, in the centre of the city, 



34 The Siege of Levden. 

rose a ruined tower of unknown antiquity. By some it 
was considered to be of Roman origin, while others pre- 
ferred to regard it as a work of the Anglo-Saxon Hen- 
gist, raised to commemorate his conquest of England. 
Surrounded by fruit trees, and overgrown in the centre 
with oaks, it afforded, from its mouldering battlements, 
a charming prospect over a wide expanse of level coun- 
try, with the spires of neighboring cities rising in 
every direction. It was from this commanding height, 
during the long and terrible summer days which were 
approaching, that many an eye was to be strained anx- 
iously seaward, watching if yet the ocean had begun to 
roll over the land. 

Valdez lost no time in securing himself in the posses- 
sion of Maaslandsluis, Vlaardingen, and The Hague. 
Five hundred English, under command of Colonel 
Edward Chester, abandoned the fortress of Valkenburg, 
and fled toward Leyden. Refused admittance by the 
citizens, who now, with reason, distrusted them, they 
surrendered to Valdez, and were afterward sent back 
to England. In the course of a few days, Leyden was 
thoroughly invested, no less than sixty-two redoubts, 
some of them having remained undestroyed from the 
previous siege, now girdling the city, while the besieg- 
ers already numbered nearly eight thousand, a force to 
be daily increased. On the other hand, there were no 
• troops in the town, save a small corps of " freebooters," 
and five companies of the burgher guard. John Van 
der Does, Seigneur of Xordwyk, a gentleman of distin- 
guished family, but still more distinguished for his learn- 

Maaslandsluis : Now Maassluis, and like Vlaardingen, on the 
Maas River, and passed on the way up from the sea to Rotterdam. 
Norduyk : On the sea, a few miles west of Leyden. 



The Siege, Rescue, and Relief. 35 

ing, his poetical genius, and his valor, had accepted the 
office of military commandant. 

The main reliance of the city, under God, was on 
the stout hearts of its inhabitants within the walls, and 
on the sleepless energy of William the Silent without. 
The Prince, hastening to comfort and encourage the 
citizens, although he had been justly irritated by their 
negligence in having omitted to provide more suffi- 
ciently against the emergency while there had yet been 
time, now reminded them that they were not about to 
contend for themselves alone, but that the fate of their 
country and of unborn generations would, in all human 
probability, depend on the issue about to be tried. 
Eternal glory would be their portion if they manifested 
a courage worthy of their race and of the sacred cause 
of religion and liberty. He implored them to hold out 
at least three months, assuring them that he would, 
within that time, devise the means of their deliverance. 
The citizens responded courageously and confidently 
to these missives, and assured the Prince of their firm 
confidence in their own fortitude and his exertions. 

And truly they had a right to rely on that calm and 
unflinching soul, as on a rock of adamant. All alone, 
without a being near him to consult, his right arm 
struck from him by the death of Louis, with no brother 
left to him but the untiring and faithful John, he pre- 
pared without delay for the new task imposed upon him. 
France, since the defeat and death of Louis, and the 
busy intrigues which had followed the accession of 
Henry III., had but small sympathy for the Nether- 
lands. The English government, relieved from the 
fear of France, was more cold and haughty than over. 
An Englishman, employed by Requesens to assassinate 



36 The Siege of Leyden. 

the Prince of Orange, had been arrested in Zealand, 
who impudently pretended that he had undertaken to 
perform the same office for Count John, with the full 
consent and privity of Queen Elizabeth. The prov- 
, inces of Holland and Zealand were stanch and true^ 
but the inequality of the contest between a few brave 
men, upon that hand's-breadth of territory, and the 
powerful Spanish Empire, seemed to render the issue 
hopeless. 

Moreover, it was now thought expedient to publish 
the amnesty which had been so long in preparation, and 
this time the trap was more liberally baited. The par- 
don, which had passed the seals upon the 8th of March, 
was formally issued by the Grand Commander on the 
6th of June. By the terms of this document the King 
invited all his erring and repentant subjects to return 
to his arms, and to accept a full forgiveness for their 
past offences, upon the sole condition that they should 
once more throw themselves upon the bosom of the 
Mother Church. There were but few exceptions to the 
amnesty, a small number of individuals, all mentioned 
by name, being alone excluded; but although these 
terms were ample, the act was liable to a few stern 
objections. It was easier now for the Hollanders to 
go to their graves than to mass, for the contest, in its 
progress, had now entirely assumed the aspect of a 
religious war. Instead of a limited number of heretics 
in a state which, although constitutional, was Catholic, 
there was now hardly a Papist to be found among the 
natives. To accept the pardon then was to concede 
the victory, and the Hollanders had not yet discovered 
that they were conquered. They were resolved, too, 
Holland and Zealand: See note 9. 



The Siege, Rescue, and Relief. 37 

not only to be conquered, but annihilated, before the 
Roman Church should be reestablished on their soil, to 
the entire exclusion of the Reformed worship. They 
responded with steadfast enthusiasm to the sentiment 
expressed by the Prince of Orange, after the second 
siege of Leyden had been commenced, "As long as 
there is a living man left in the country, we will contend 
for our liberty and our religion." The single condition of 
the amnesty assumed, in a phrase, what Spain had fruit- 
lessly striven to establish by a hundred battles, and the 
Hollanders had not faced their enemy on land and sea 
for seven years to succumb to a phrase at last. 

Moreover, the pardon came from the wrong direction. 
The malefactor gravely extended forgiveness to his vic- 
tims. Although the Hollanders had not yet disembar- 
rassed their minds of the supernatural theory of gov- 
ernment, and felt still the reverence of habit for regal 
divinity, they naturally considered themselves outraged 
by the trick now played before them. The man who 
had violated all his oaths, trampled upon all their con- 
stitutional liberties, burned and sacked their cities, confis- 
cated their wealth, hanged, beheaded, burned, and buried 
alive their innocent brethren, now came forward, not to 
implore, but to offer forgiveness. Not in sackcloth, 
but in royal robes ; not with ashes, but with a diadem 
upon his head, did the murderer present himself vicari- 
ously upon the scene of his crimes. It may be supposed 
that, even in the sixteenth century, there were many 
minds which would revolt at such blasphemy. Further- 
more, even had the people of Holland been weak enough 
to accept the pardon, it was impossible to believe that 
the promise would be fulfilled. It was sufficiently known 
how much faith was likely to be kept with heretics, not- 



38 The Siege of Leyden. 

withstanding that the act was fortified by a papal Bull, 
dated on the 30th of April, by which Gregory XIII. 
promised forgiveness to those Netherland sinners who 
duly repented and sought absolution for their crimes, even 
although they had sinned more than seven times seven. 
For a moment the Prince had feared lest the pardon 
might produce some effect upon men wearied by inter- 
minable suffering, but the event proved him wrong. It 
was received with universal and absolute contempt. No 
man came forward to take advantage of its conditions, 
save one brewer in Utrecht, and the son of a refugee 
pedler from Leyden. With these exceptions, the only 
ones recorded, Holland remained deaf to the royal voice. 
The city of Leyden was equally cold to the messages of 
mercy, which were especially addressed to its population 
by Valdez and his agents. Certain Netherlanders, be- 
longing to the King's party, and familiarly called " dip- 
pers," despatched from the camp many letters to their 
rebellious acquaintances in the city. In these epistles 
the citizens of Leyden were urgently and even patheti- 
cally exhorted to submission by their loyal brethren, and 
were implored " to take pity upon their poor old fathers, 
their daughters, and their wives." But the burghers of 
Leyden thought that the best pity which they could show 
to those poor old fathers, daughters, and wives, was to 
keep them from the clutches of the Spanish soldiery ; 
so they made no answ r er to the Glippers, save by this 
single line, which they wrote on a sheet of paper, and 
forwarded, like a letter, to Valdez : — 

"Fistula duke canit, volucrem cum decipit auceps." 

Glippers : Like the Tories in the American Revolution. 

Fistula . . . auceps : The flute sounds sweetly, while the fowler 
snares the bird ; or, The bird-catcher plays soft notes, in order to 
entrap the little birds. 



The Siege, Rescue, and Relief. 39 

According to the advice early given by the Prince of 
Orange, the citizens had taken an account of their pro- 
visions of all kinds, including the live stock. By the end 
of June, the city was placed on a strict allowance of food, 
all the provisions being purchased by the authorities at 
an equitable price. Half a pound of meat and half a 
pound of bread was allotted to a full-grown man, and 
to the rest, a due proportion. The city being strictly 




House in Leyden as it was in 1620. 

invested, no communication, save by carrier pigeons, 
and by a few swift and skilful messengers, called 
"jumpers," was possible. Sorties and fierce combats 
were, however, of daily occurrence, and a handsome 
bounty was offered to any man who brought into the 
city gates the head of a Spaniard. The reward was 
paid many times, but the population was becoming so 

Jumpers: Agile young men equipped with long poles pronged 
with iron, with which they were enabled to leap up over the dykes 
and across the canals, and thus outrun their pursuers, the Spaniards. 



40 The Siege of Leyden. 

excited and so apt, that the authorities felt it dangerous 
to permit the continuance of these conflicts. Lest the 
city, little by little, should lose its few disciplined defend- 
ers, it was now proclaimed, by sound of church bell, that 
in future no man should leave the gates. 

The Prince had his headquarters at Delft and at Rotter- 
dam. Between those two cities, an important fortress, 
called Polderwaert, secured him in the control of the 
alluvial quadrangle, watered on two sides by the Yssel 
and the Maas. On the 29th of June, the Spaniards, feel- 
ing its value, had made an unsuccessful effort to carry 
this fort by storm. They had been beaten off, with the 
loss of several hundred men, the Prince remaining in 
possession of the position, from which alone he could 
hope to relieve Leyden. He still held in his hand the 
keys with which he could unlock the ocean gates and 
let the waters in upon the land, and he had long been 
convinced that nothing could save the city but to break 
the dykes. Leyden was not upon the sea, but he could 
send the sea to Leyden, although an army fit to 
encounter the besieging force under Valdez could not 
be levied. The battle of Mookerheyde had, for the 
present, quite settled the question of land relief, but it 
was possible to besiege the besiegers with the waves 
of the ocean. The Spaniards occupied the coast from 
The Hague to Vlaardingen, but the dykes along the 
Maas and Yssel were in possession of the Prince. He 
determined that these should be pierced, while, at the 
same time, the great sluices at Rotterdam, Schiedam, 
and Delfshaven should be opened. The damage to 
the fields, villages, and growing crops would be enor- 
mous, but he felt that no other course could rescue 
Leyden, and with it the whole of Holland, from destruc- 



The Siege, Rescue, and Relief. 41 

tion. His clear expositions and impassioned eloquence 
at last overcame all resistance. By the middle of July 
the estates fully consented to his plan, and its execution 
was immediately undertaken. " Better a drowned land 
than a lost land," cried the patriots, with enthusiasm, as 
they devoted their fertile fields to desolation. The enter- 
prise for restoring their territory, for a season, to the 
waves, from which it had been so patiently rescued, was 
conducted with as much regularity as if it had been a 
profitable undertaking. A capital was formally sub- 
scribed, for which a certain number of bonds were 
issued, payable at a long date. In addition to this 
preliminary fund, a monthly allowance of forty-five 
guldens was voted by the estates, until the work should 
be completed, and a large sum was contributed by the 
ladies of the land, who freely furnished their plate, 
jewellery, and costly furniture to the furtherance of 
the scheme. 

Meantime, Valdez, on the 30th of July, issued most ur- 
gent and ample offers of pardon to the citizens, if they 
would consent to open their gates and accept the King's 
authority, but his overtures were received with silent 
contempt, notwithstanding that the population was 
already approaching the starvation point. Although 
not yet fully informed of the active measures taken by 
the Prince, yet they still chose to rely upon his energy 
and their own fortitude, rather than upon the honied 

Better . . . land: A very old Dutch proverb, u Better a swamped 
than a lost land. 11 A polder is a drained or recovered land, as in the 
name of the port Polderwaert. 

Gulden : A guilder, gulden, or florin is worth forty American, or 
one hundred Dutch cents, or at that time, in actual value, four times 
as much. 



4^ 



The Siege of Leyden. 



words which had formerly been heard at the gates of 
Haarlem and of Naarden. On the 3d of August, the 
Prince, accompanied by Paul Buys, chief of the com- 
mission appointed to execute the enterprise, went in 
person along the Yssel, as far as Kappelle, and super- 
intended the rupture of the dykes in sixteen places. The 




The Dykes along the Yssel Cut to Relieve Leyden. 



gates at Schiedam and Rotterdam were opened, and the 
ocean began to pour over the land. While waiting for 
the waters to rise, provisions were rapidly collected, ac- 
cording to an edict of the Prince, in all the principal 
towns of the neighborhood, and some two hundred 
vessels, of various sizes, had also been got ready at 
Rotterdam, Delfshaven, and other ports. 

The citizens of Leyden were, however, already becom- 
ing impatient, for their bread was gone, and of its sub- 



The Siege, Rescue, and Relief. 43 

stitute, malt cake, they had but slender provision. On 
the x 1 2th of August they received a letter from the 
Prince, encouraging them to resistance, and assuring 
them of a speedy relief, and on the 21st they addressed 
a despatch to him in reply, stating that they had now 
fulfilled their original promise, for they had held out 
two months with food, and another month without food. 
If not soon assisted, human strength could do no more, 
their malt cake would last but four days, and after that 
was gone, there was nothing left but starvation. Upon 
the same day, however, they received a letter, dictated 
by the Prince, who now lay in bed at Rotterdam with a 
violent fever, assuring them that the dykes were all 
pierced, and that the water was rising upon the " Land- 
scheiding," the great outer barrier which separated the 
city from the sea. He said nothing however of his own 
illness, which would have cast a deep shadow over the 
joy which now broke forth among the burghers. 

The letter was read publicly in the market-place, and 
to increase the cheerfulness, Burgomaster Van der Werff, 
knowing the sensibility of his countrymen to music, or- 
dered the city musicians to perambulate the streets, play- 
ing lively melodies and martial airs. Salvos of cannon 
were likewise fired, and the starving city for a brief 
space put on the aspect of a holiday, much to the aston- 

Malt cake : Easily made out of malted grain, which does not need 
to be ground. The windmills being placed on the bastions of the 
city walls were rendered useless by the Spanish cannon-shot. 

Land-scheiding : La n d-di v ider. 

Van der Werff : Whose statue now adorns the public garden in 
Leyden. 

Music : The Dutch Puritans kept their organs, and the Calvin- 
ists were especially fond of popular hymns. 



44 The Siege of Leyden. 

ishment of the besieging forces, who were not yet aware 
of the Prince's efforts. They perceived very soon, how- 
ever, as the water everywhere about Leyden had risen 
to the depth of ten inches, that they stood in a perilous 
position. It was no trifling danger to be thus attacked 
by the waves of the ocean, which seemed about to obey 
with docility the command of William the Silent. Val- 
dez became anxious and uncomfortable at the strange 
aspect of affairs ; for the besieging army was now in its 
turn beleaguered, and by a stronger power than man's. 
He consulted with the most experienced of his officers, 
with the country people, with the most distinguished 
among the Glippers, and derived encouragement from 
their views concerning the Prince's plan. They pro- 
nounced it utterly futile and hopeless. The Glippers 
knew the country well, and ridiculed the desperate proj- 
ect in unmeasured terms. 

Even in the city itself, a dull distrust had succeeded 
to the first vivid gleam of hope, while the few royalists 
among the population boldly taunted their fellow-citizens 
to their faces with the absurd vision of relief which they 
had so fondly welcomed. " Go up to the tower, ye Beg- 
gars," was the frequent and taunting cry, " go up to the 
tower, and tell us if ye can see the ocean coming over 
the dry land to your relief" — and day after day they 
did go up to the ancient tower of Hengist, with heavy 
heart and anxious eye, watching, hoping, praying, fear- 
ing, and at last almost despairing of relief by God or 
man. On the 27th they addressed a desponding letter 
to the estates, complaining that the city had been for- 
gotten in its utmost need, and on the same day a prompt 
and warm-hearted reply was received, in which the citi- 
Beggars : See note 10. 



The Siege, Rescue, and Relief. 45 




•The Ancient Tower of Hengist" in the Centre of the Cm 01 

Leyden. 

From ah Old Dutch Print. 



46 The Siege of Leyden. 

zens were assured that every human effort was to be 
made for their relief. " Rather," said the estates, "will 
we see our whole land and all our possessions perish in 
the waves, than forsake thee, Leyden. We know full 
well, moreover, that with Leyden, all Holland must per- 
ish also." They excused themselves for not having 
more frequently written, upon the ground that the whole 
management of the measures for their relief had been 
intrusted to the Prince, by whom alone all the details 
had been administered, and all the correspondence 
conducted. 

The fever of the Prince had, meanwhile, reached its 
height. He lay at Rotterdam, utterly prostrate in body, 
and with mind agitated nearly to delirium by the per- 
petual and almost unassisted schemes which he was con- 
structing. Relief, not only for Leyden, but for the 
whole country, now apparently sinking into the abyss, 
was the vision which he pursued as he tossed upon his 
restless couch. Never was illness more unseasonable. 
His attendants were in despair, for it was necessary that 
his mind should for a time be spared the agitation of 
business. The physicians who attended him agreed, as 
to his disorder, only in this, that it was the result of 
mental fatigue and melancholy, and could be cured only 
by removing all distressing and perplexing subjects from 
his thoughts ; but all the physicians in the world could 
not have succeeded in turning his attention for an in- 
stant from the great cause of his country. Leyden lay, 
as it were, anxious and despairing at his feet, and it was 
impossible to close his ears to her cry. Therefore, from 
his sick bed he continued to dictate words of counsel 
and encouragement to the city ; to Admiral Boisot, com- 
manding the fleet, minute directions and precautions. 



The Siege, Rescue, and Relief. 47 

Toward the end of August a vague report had found 
its way into his sick chamber that Leyden had fallen, 
and although he refused to credit the tale, yet it served 
to harass his mind and to heighten fever. Cornelius 
Van Mierop, Receiver-general of Holland, had occasion 
to visit him at Rotterdam, and, strange to relate, found 
the house almost deserted. Penetrating, unattended, to 
the Prince's bed-chamber, he found him lying quite 
alone. Inquiring what had become of all his attendants, 
he was answered by the Prince, in a very feeble voice, 
that he had sent them all away. The Receiver-general 
seems, from this, to have rather hastily arrived at the 
conclusion that the Prince's disorder was the pest, and 
that his servants and friends had all deserted him from 
cowardice. This was very far from being the case. His 
private secretary and his maitre d'hotel watched, day 
and night, by his couch, and the best physicians of the 
city were in constant attendance. By a singular acci- 
dent, all had been despatched on different errands, at the 
express desire of their master, but there had never been 
a suspicion that his disorder was the pest, or pestilential. 
Nerves of steel and a frame of adamant could alone 
have resisted the constant anxiety and the consuming 
fatigue to which he had so long been exposed. His ill- 
ness had been aggravated by the rumor of Leyden's fall, 
a fiction which Cornelius Van Mierop was now enabled 
flatly to contradict. The Prince began to mend from 
that hour. By the end of the first week of September, 
he wrote a long letter to his brother, assuring him of his 
convalescence, and expressing, as usual, a calm confi- 
dence in the divine decrees. "God will ordain for me," 
said he, "all which is necessary for my good and my 
Maltre d" hotel: Or, as we should say, " landlord. 11 



48 The Siege of Leyden. 

salvation. He will load me with no more afflictions than 
the fragility of this nature can sustain." 

The preparations for the relief of Leyden, which, not- 
withstanding his exertions, had grown slack during his 
sickness, were now vigorously resumed. On the 1st of 
September, Admiral Boisot arrived out of Zealand with 
a small number of vessels, and with eight hundred 
veteran sailors. A wild and ferocious crew were those 
eight hundred Zealanders. Scarred, hacked, and even 
maimed, in the unceasing conflicts in which their lives 
had passed ; wearing crescents in their caps, with the 
inscription, " Rather Turkish than Popish"; renowned 
far and wide, as much for their ferocity as for their 
nautical skill, the appearance of these wildest of the 
" Sea-beggars " was both eccentric and terrific. They 
were known never to give nor to take quarter, for they 
went to mortal combat only, and had sworn to spare 
neither noble nor simple, neither King, Kaiser, nor 
Pope, should they fall into their power. 

More than two hundred vessels had been now as- 
sembled, carrying generally ten pieces of cannon, with 
from ten to eighteen oars, and manned with twenty-five 
hundred veterans, experienced both on land and water. 
The work was now undertaken in earnest. The dis- 
tance from Leyden to the outer dyke, over whose ruins 
the ocean had already been admitted, was nearly fifteen 
miles. This reclaimed territory, however, was not main- 
tained against the sea by these external barriers alone. 
The flotilla made its way with ease to the Land-scheid- 
ing, a strong dyke within five miles of Leyden, but here 
its progress was arrested. The approach to the city 
was surrounded by many strong ramparts, one within 
the other, by which it was defended against its ancient 



The Siege, Rescue, and Relief. 49 

enemy, the ocean, precisely like the circumvallations by 
means of which it was now assailed by its more recent 
enemy, the Spaniard. To enable the fleet, however, to 
sail over the land, it was necessary to break through 
this twofold series of defences. Between the Land- 
scheiding and Leyden were several dykes, which kept 
out the water ; upon the level territory, thus encircled, 
were many villages, together with a chain of sixty-two 
forts, which completely occupied the land. All these 
villages and fortresses were held by the veteran troops 
of the King ; the besieging force being about four times 
as strong as that which was coming to the rescue. 

The Prince had given orders that the Land-scheiding, 
which was still one and a half foot above water, should 
be taken possession of, at every hazard. On the night 
of the 10th and nth of September this was accom- 
plished, by surprise, and in a masterly manner. The 
few Spaniards who had been stationed upon the dyke 
were all despatched or driven off, and the patriots forti- 
fied themselves upon it, without the loss of a man. As 
the day dawned the Spaniards saw the fatal error which 
they had committed in leaving this bulwark so feebly 
defended, and from two villages which stood close to 
the dyke, the troops now rushed in considerable force 
to recover what they had lost. A hot action succeeded, 
but the patriots had too securely established themselves. 
They completely defeated the enemy, who retired, leav- 
ing hundreds of dead on the field, and the patriots in 
complete possession of the Land-scheiding. This first 
action was sanguinary and desperate. It gave an ear- 
nest of what these people, who came to relieve their 
brethren, by sacrificing their property and their lives, 
were determined to effect. 



50 The Siege of Leyden. 

The great dyke having been thus occupied, no time 
was lost in breaking it through in several places, a work 
which was accomplished under the very eyes of the 
enemy. The fleet sailed through the gaps ; but, after 
their passage had been effected in good order, the 
Admiral found, to his surprise, that it was not the only 
rampart to be carried. The Prince had been informed, 
by those who claimed to know the country, that, when 
once the Land-scheiding had been passed, the water 
would flood the country as far as Leyden, but the 
" Green-way," another long dyke, three-quarters of a 
mile farther inward, now rose at least a foot above the 
water, to oppose their further progress. Fortunately, 
by a second and still more culpable carelessness, this 
dyke had been left by the Spaniards in as unprotected 
a state as the first had been. Promptly and audaciously 
Admiral Boisot took possession of this barrier also, 
levelled it in many places, and brought his flotilla, 
in triumph, over its ruins. Again, however, he was 
doomed to disappointment. A large mere, called the 
Freshwater Lake, was known to extend itself directly 
in his path, about midway between the Land-scheiding 
and the city. To this piece of water, into which he 
expected to have instantly floated, his only passage lay 
through one deep canal. The sea, which had thus far 
borne him on, now diffusing itself over a very wide 
surface, and under the influence of an adverse wind, 
had become too shallow for his ships. The canal alone 
was deep enough, but it led directly toward a bridge, 
strongly occupied by the enemy. Hostile troops, more- 
over, to the amount of three thousand, occupied both 
sides of the canal. The bold Boisot, nevertheless, deter- 
mined to force his passage, if possible. Selecting a 



The Siege, Rescue, and Relief. 51 

few of his strongest vessels, his heaviest artillery, and 
his bravest sailors, he led the van himself, in a desperate 
attempt to make his way to the mere. He opened a 
hot fire upon the bridge, then converted into a fortress, 
while his men engaged in hand-to-hand combat with a 
succession of skirmishers from the troops along the 
canal. After losing a few men, and ascertaining the 
impregnable position of the enemy, he was obliged to 
withdraw, defeated, and almost despairing. 

A week had elapsed since the great dyke had been 
pierced, and the flotilla now lay motionless in shallow 
water, having accomplished less than two miles. The 
wind, too, was easterly, causing the sea rather to sink 
than to rise. Everything wore a gloomy aspect, when, 
fortunately, on the 18th, the wind shifted to the north- 
west, and for three days blew a gale. The waters rose 
rapidly, and before the second day was closed the ar- 
mada was afloat again. Some fugitives from Zoeter- 
meer village now arrived, and informed the Admiral 
that, by making a detour to the right, he could com- 
pletely circumvent the bridge and the mere. They 
guided him, accordingly, to a comparatively low dyke, 
which led between the villages of Zoetermeer and 
Benthuyzen. A strong force of Spaniards was stationed 
in each place, but, seized with a panic, instead of sally- 
ing to defend the barrier, they fled inwardly toward 
Leyden, and halted at the village of North Aa. It was 
natural that they should be amazed. Nothing is more 
appalling to the imagination than the rising ocean tide, 
when man feels himself within its power ; and here 
were the waters, hourly deepening and closing around 

North Aa : These three places are to the southeast of Leyden, 
toward Rotterdam. 



$2 The Siege of Leyden. 

them, devouring the earth beneath their feet, while on 
the waves rode a flotilla, manned by a determined race, 
whose courage and ferocity were known throughout the 
world. The Spanish soldiers, brave as they were on 
land, were not sailors, and in the naval contests which 
had taken place between them and the Hollanders had 
been almost invariably defeated. It was not surprising, 
in these amphibious skirmishes, w T here discipline was of 
little avail, and habitual audacity faltered at the vague 
dangers which encompassed them, that the foreign 
troops should lose their presence of mind. 

Three barriers, one within the other, had now been 
passed, and the flotilla, advancing with the advancing 
waves, and driving the enemy steadily before it, was 
drawing nearer to the beleaguered city. As one circle 
after another was passed, the besieging army found 
itself compressed within a constantly contracting field. 
The Ark of Delft, an enormous vessel, with shot-proof 
bulwarks, and moved by paddle-wheels turned by a 
crank, now arrived at Zoetermeer, and was soon fol- 
lowed by the whole fleet. After a brief delay, sufficient 
to allow the few remaining villagers to escape, both 
Zoetermeer and Benthuyzen, with the fortifications, 
were set on fire, and abandoned to their fate. The 
blaze lighted up the desolate and watery waste around, 
and was seen at Leyden, where it was hailed as the 
beacon of hope. Without further impediment, the 
armada proceeded to North Aa ; the enemy retreating 
from this position also, and flying to Zoeterwoude, a 
strongly fortified village but a mile and three-quarters 
from the city walls. It was now swarming with troops, 
for the bulk of the besieging army had gradually been 
driven into a narrow circle of forts, within the immedi- 



The Siege, Rescue, and Relief. 53 

ate neighborhood of Leyden. Besides Zoeterwoude, 
the two posts where they were principally established 
were Lammen and Leyderdorp, each within three hun- 
dred rods of the town. At Leyderdorp were the head- 
quarters of Valdez ; Colonel Borgia commanded in the 
very strong fortress of Lammen. 

The fleet was, however, delayed at North Aa by 
another barrier, called the " Kirk-way." The waters, 
too, spreading once more over a wider space, and 
diminishing under an east wind which had again arisen, 
no longer permitted their progress, so that very soon 
the whole armada was stranded anew. The waters fell 
to the depth of nine inches, while the vessels required 
eighteen and twenty. Day after day the fleet lay 
motionless upon the shallow sea. Orange, rising from 
his sick bed as soon as he could stand, now came on 
board the fleet. His presence diffused universal joy ; 
his words inspired his desponding army with fresh 
hope. He rebuked the impatient spirits who, weary of 
their compulsory idleness, had shown symptoms of ill- 
timed ferocity, and those eight hundred mad Zealanders, 
so frantic in their hatred to the foreigners who had so 
long profaned their land, were as docile as children to 
the Prince. He reconnoitred the whole ground, and 
issued orders for the immediate destruction of the Kirk- 
way, the last important barrier which separated the fleet 
from Leyden. Then, after a long conference with 
Admiral Boisot, he returned to Delft. 

Meantime, the besieged city was at its last gasp. 

The burghers had been in a state of uncertainty for 

many days ; being aware that the fleet had set forth for 

their relief, but knowing full well the thousand obsta- 

Kirk-way : The Church-way. 



54 



The Siege of Leyden. 



cles which it had to surmount. They had guessed its 
progress by the illumination from the blazing villages ; 
they had heard its salvos of artillery on its arrival at 
North Aa ; but since then all had been dark and mourn- 
ful again, hope and fear, in sickening alternation, dis- 
tracting every breast. They knew that the wind was 
unfavorable, and at the dawn of each day, every eye 




Dutch Burgher Costumes of the Period. 



was turned wistfully to the vanes of the steeples. So 
long as the easterly breeze prevailed, they felt, as they 
anxiously stood on towers and housetops, that they 
must look in vain for the welcome ocean. Yet, while 
thus patiently waiting, they were literally starving ; for 
even the misery endured at Haarlem had not reached 
that depth and intensity of agony to which Leyden was 
now reduced. Bread, malt cake, horse-flesh, had entirely 

The vanes of the steeples : See note 1 1. 



The Siege, Rescue, and Relief. 55 

disappeared ; dogs, cats, rats, and other vermin, were 
esteemed luxuries. A small number of cows, kept as 
long as possible for their milk, still remained ; but a 
few were killed from day to day, and distributed in 
minute proportions, hardly sufficient to support life 
among the famishing population. Starving wretches 
swarmed daily around the shambles where these cattle 
were slaughtered, contending for any morsel which 
might fall, and lapping eagerly the blood as it ran 
along the pavement; while the hides, chopped and 
boiled, were greedily devoured. Women and children, 
all day long, were seen searching gutters and dunghills 
for morsels of food, which they disputed fiercely with 
the famishing dogs. The green leaves were stripped 
from the trees, every living herb was converted into 
human food, but these expedients could not avert starva- 
tion. The daily mortality was frightful — infants starved 
to death on the maternal breasts, which famine had 
parched and withered ; mothers dropped dead in the 
streets, with their dead children in their arms. In 
many a house the watchmen, in their rounds, found a 
whole family of corpses, father, mother, and children, 
side by side, for a disorder called the plague, naturally 
engendered of hardship and famine, now came, as if in 
kindness, to abridge the agony of the people. The 
pestilence stalked at noonday through the city, and the 
doomed inhabitants fell like grass beneath its scythe. 
From six thousand to eight thousand human beings 
sank before this scourge alone, yet the people reso- 
lutely held out — women and men mutually encouraging 
each other to resist the entrance of their foreign foe — 
an evil more horrible than pest or famine. 

The missives from Valdez, who saw more vividly than 



56 The Siege of Leyden. 

the besieged could do, the uncertainty of his own posi- 
tion, now poured daily into the city, the enemy becom- 
ing more prodigal of his vows, as he felt that the ocean 
might yet save the victims from his grasp. The inhab- 
itants, in their ignorance, had gradually abandoned 
their hopes of relief, but they spurned the summons to 
surrender. Leyden was sublime in its despair. A few 
murmurs were, however, occasionally heard at the stead- 
fastness of the magistrates, and a dead body was placed 
at the door of the burgomaster, as a silent witness 
against his inflexibility. A party of the more faint- 
hearted even assailed the heroic Adrian Van der Werff 
with threats and reproaches as he passed through the 
streets. A crowd had gathered around him, as he 
reached a triangular place in the centre of the town, 
into which many of the principal streets emptied them- 
selves, and upon one side of which stood the Church 
of St. Pancras, with its high brick tower surmounted by 
two pointed turrets, and with two ancient lime trees at 
its entrance. There stood the burgomaster, a tall, 
haggard, imposing figure, with dark visage, and a tran- 
quil but commanding eye. He waved his broad-leaved 
felt hat for silence, and then exclaimed, in language 
which has been almost literally preserved : " What would 
ye, my friends ? Why do ye murmur that we do not 
break our vows and surrender the city to the Spaniards? 
a fate more horrible than the agony which she now 
endures. I tell you I have made an oath to hold the 
city, and may God give me strength to keep my oath ! 
I can die but once; whether by your hands, the enemy's, 
or by the hand of God. My own fate is indifferent to 
me, not so that of the city intrusted to my care. I know 
that we shall starve if not soon relieved ; but starvation 



The Siege, Rescue, and Relief. 



57 



is preferable to the dishonored death which is the only 
alternative. Your menaces move me not ; my life is at 




St. Pancras Church. 

Here Burgomaster Van der Werff stood. From a Photograph. 

your disposal ; here is my sword, plunge it into my 
breast, and divide my flesh among you. Take my body 



58 The Siege of Leyden. 

to appease your hunger, but expect no surrender, so 
long as I remain alive." 

The words of the stout burgomaster inspired a new 
courage in the hearts of those who heard him, and a 
shout of applause and defiance arose from the famishing 
but enthusiastic crowd. They left the place, after ex- 
changing new vows of fidelity with their magistrate, 
and again ascended tower and battlement to watch for 
the coming fleet. From the ramparts they hurled re- 
newed defiance at the enemy. "Ye call us rat-eaters 
and dog-eaters," they cried, "and it is true. So long, 
then, as ye hear dog bark or cat mew within the walls, 
ye may know that the city holds out. And when all has 
perished but ourselves, be sure that we will each devour 
our left arms, retaining our right to defend our women, 
our liberty, and our religion, against the foreign tyrant. 
Should God, in his wrath, doom us to destruction, and 
deny us all relief, even then we will maintain ourselves 
forever against your entrance. When the last hour has 
come, with our own hands we will set fire to the city, and 
perish, men, women, and children together in the flames, 
rather than suffer our homes to be polluted and our 
liberties to be crushed." Such words of defiance, thun- 
dered daily from the battlements, sufficiently informed 
Valdez as to his chance of conquering the city, either by 
force or fraud, but at the same time, he felt comparatively 
relieved by the inactivity of Boisot's fleet, which still lay 
stranded at North Aa. "As well," shouted the Span- 
iards, derisively, to the citizens, " as well can the Prince 
of Orange pluck the stars from the sky as bring the 
ocean to the walls of Leyden for your relief." 

On the 28th of September, a dove flew into the city, 
bringing a letter from Admiral Boisot. In this despatch, 



The Siege, Rescue, and Relief. 59 

the position of the fleet at North Aa was described in 
encouraging terms, and the inhabitants were assured 
that, in a very few days at furthest, the long-expected 
relief would enter their gates. The letter was read pub- 
licly upon the market-place, and the bells were rung for 
joy. Nevertheless, on the morrow, the vanes pointed 
to the east, the waters, so far from rising, continued to 
sink, and Admiral Boisot was almost in despair. He 
wrote to the Prince, that if the spring-tide, now to be 
expected, should not, together with a strong and favora- 
ble wind, come immediately to their relief, it would be 
in vain to attempt anything further, and that the expedi- 
tion would, of necessity, be abandoned. 

The tempest came to their relief. A violent equinoc- 
tial gale, on the night of the 1st and 2d of October, 
came storming from the northwest, shifting after a few 
hours full eight points, and then blowing still more vio- 
lently from the southwest. The waters of the North 
Sea were piled in vast masses upon the southern coast 
of Holland, and then dashed furiously landward, the 
ocean rising over the earth, and sweeping with unre- 
strained power across the ruined dykes. 

In the course of twenty-four hours, the fleet at North 
Aa, instead of nine inches, had more than two feet of 
water. No time was lost. The Kirk-way, which had 
been broken through according to the Prince's instruc- 
tions, was now completely overflowed, and the fleet 
sailed at midnight, in the midst of the storm and dark- 
ness. A few sentinel vessels of the enemy challenged 
them as they steadily rowed toward Zoeterwoude. 

The answer was a flash from Boisot's cannon, light- 
ing up the black waste of waters. There was a fierce 
naval midnight battle; a strange spectacle among the 



THE SUBMERGED LAND 




i. Camp of Baldes. 

2. Camp of van Zichen. 

3. Camp of Diala. 

4. Camp of Marion. 

5. Camp of Karondilet 
and nester. 



6. Camp of Marion. 

7. Fort commanding the 
West Waterway. 

8. Great Victory Fort. 

9. Fort Quaakel, com- 



manding East Water- 
way. 

10. Fort Casse Vasse. 

11. The Great Meerbrugh 
Polder (Drained 
Meadow). 



AROUND LEYDEN 




12. Road to Zegward. 16. Meerburger Water- 18. Admiral Boisot. 

13. The Court Way. way. 19. The Spaniards in Re- 

14. The Pope's Pond. 17. Roomburger Water- treat. 

15. The Pond of North Aa. • way. 



62 The Siege of Leyden. 

branches of those quiet orchards, and with the chimney 
stacks of half -submerged farmhouses rising around the 
contending vessels. The neighboring village of Zoeter- 
woude shook with the discharges of the Zealanders' 
cannon, and the Spaniards assembled in that fortress 
knew that the rebel Admiral was at last afloat and on 
his course. The enemy's vessels were soon sunk, their 
crews hurled into the waves. On went the fleet, sweep- 
ing over the broad waters which lay between Zoeter- 
woude and Zwieten. As they approached some shallows, 
which led into the great mere, the Zealanders dashed 
into the sea, and with sheer strength shouldered every 
vessel through. 

Two obstacles lay still in their path — the forts of 
Zoeterwoude and Lammen, distant from the city five 
hundred and two hundred and fifty yards respectively. 
Strong redoubts, both well supplied with troops and 
artillery, they were likely to give a rough reception to 
the light flotilla, but the panic, which had hitherto driven 
their foes before the advancing patriots, had reached 
Zoeterwoude. Hardly was the fleet in sight when the 
Spaniards, in the early morning, poured out from the 
fortress, and fled precipitately to the left, along a road 
which led in a westerly direction toward The Hague. 
Their narrow path was rapidly vanishing in the waves, 
and hundreds sank beneath the constantly deepening, 
and treacherous flood. The wild Zealanders, too, sprang 
from their vessels upon the crumbling dyke and drove 
their retreating foes into the sea. They hurled their 
harpoons at them, with an accuracy acquired in many 
a polar chase ; they plunged into the waves in the keen 
pursuit, attacking them with boat-hook and dagger. 
The numbers who thus fell beneath these corsairs, who 



The Siege, Rescue, and Relief. 63 

neither gave nor took quarter, were never counted, but 
probably not less than a thousand perished. The rest 
effected their escape to The Hague. 

The first fortress was thus seized, dismantled, set on 
fire, and passed, and a few strokes of the oars brought 
the whole fleet close to Lammen. This last obstacle 
rose formidable and frowning directly across their path. 
Swarming as it was with soldiers, and bristling with 
artillery, it seemed to defy the armada either to carry 
it by storm or to pass under its guns into the city. It 
appeared that the enterprise was, after all, to founder 
within sight of the long expecting and expected haven. 
Boisot anchored his fleet within a respectful distance, 
and spent what remained of the day in carefully recon- 
noitring the fort, which seemed only too strong. In 
conjunction with Leyderdorp, the headquarters of Val- 
dez, a mile and a half distant on the right, and within 
a mile of the city, it seemed so insuperable an impedi- 
ment that Boisot wrote in despondent tone to the Prince 
of Orange. He announced his intention of carrying 
the fort, if it were possible, on the following morning, 
but if obliged to retreat, he observed, with something 
like despair, that there would be nothing for it but to 
wait for another gale of wind. If the waters should 
rise sufficiently to enable them to make a wide detour, 
it might be possible, if, in the meantime, Leyden did 
not starve or surrender, to enter its gates from the oppo- 
site side. 

Meantime, the citizens had grown wild with expecta- 
tion. A dove had been despatched by Boisot, inform- 
ing them of his precise position, and a number of 
citizens accompanied the burgomaster, at nightfall, 
toward the tower of Hengist. — " Yonder," cried the 



64 The Siege of Leyden. 

magistrate, stretching out his hand toward Lammen, 
" yonder, behind that fort, are bread and meat, and 
brethren in thousands. Shall all this be destroyed by 
the Spanish guns, or shall we rush to the rescue of our 
friends ? " " We will tear the fortress to fragments 
with our teeth and nails," was the reply, " before the 
relief, so long expected, shall be wrested from us." It 
was resolved that a sortie, in conjunction with the oper- 
ations of Boisot, should be made against Lammen with 
the earliest dawn. 

Night descended upon the scene, a pitch dark night, 
full of anxiety to the Spaniards, to the armada, to Ley- 
den. Strange sights and sounds occurred at different 
moments to bewilder the anxious sentinels. A long pro- 
cession of lights issuing from the fort was seen to flit 
across the black face of the waters, in the dead of night, 
and the whole of the city wall, between the Cow-gate 
and the tower of Burgundy, fell with a loud crash. The 
horror-struck citizens thought that the Spaniards were 
upon them at last ; the Spaniards imagined the noise to 
indicate a desperate sortie of the citizens. Everything 
was vague and mysterious. 

Day dawned, at length, after the feverish night, and 
the Admiral prepared for the assault. Within the for- 
tress reigned a death-like stillness, which inspired a sick- 
ening suspicion. Had the city, indeed, been carried in 
the night ; had the massacre already commenced ; had 
all this labor and audacity been expended in vain ? Sud- 
denly a man was descried, wading breast-high through 
the water from Lammen toward the fleet, while at the 
same time, one solitary boy was seen to wave his cap 
from the summit of the fort. 

The Cow-gate : See note 12. 



The Siege, Rescue, and Relief. 



65 



After a moment of doubt, the happy mystery was 
solved. The Spaniards had fled, panic struck, during 
the darkness. Their position would still have enabled 
them, with firmness, to frustrate the enterprise of the 
patriots, but the hand of God, which had sent the ocean 
and the tempest to the deliverance of Leyden, had struck 




The Relief Boats under Admiral Boisot Entering Leyden 

THROUGH THE COW-GATE. 
From an Old Dutch Print. 

her enemies with terror likewise. The lights which had 
been seen moving during the night were the lanterns of 
the retreating Spaniards, and the boy who was now wav- 
ing his triumphant signal from the battlements had alone 
witnessed the spectacle. So confident was he in the 
conclusion to which it led him, that he had volunteered 
at daybreak to go thither all alone. The magistrates, 
fearing a trap, hesitated for a moment to believe the 



66 The Siege of Leyden. 

truth, which soon, however, became quite evident. Val- 
dez, flying himself from Leyderdorp, had ordered Colonel 
Borgia to retire with all his troops from Lammen. 

Thus, the Spaniards had retreated at the very moment 
that an extraordinary accident had laid bare a whole side 
of the city for their entrance. The noise of the wall, as 
it fell, only inspired them with fresh alarm ; for they 
believed that the citizens had sallied forth in the dark- 
ness, to aid the advancing flood in the work of destruc- 
tion. All obstacles being now removed, the fleet of 
Boisot swept by Lammen, and entered the city on the 
morning of the 3d of October. Leyden was relieved. 

The quays were lined with the famishing population, 
as the fleet rowed through the canals, every human be- 
ing who could stand, coming forth to greet the preserv- 
ers of the city. Bread was thrown from every vessel 
among the crowd. The poor creatures who for two 
months had tasted no wholesome human food, and who 
had literally been living within the jaws of death, 
snatched eagerly the blessed gift, at last too liberally 
bestowed. Many choked themselves to death, in the 
greediness with which they devoured their bread ; others 
became ill with the effects of plenty thus suddenly suc- 
ceeding starvation ; — but these were isolated cases, a 
repetition of which was prevented. 

The Admiral, stepping ashore, was welcomed by the 
magistracy, and a solemn procession was immediately 
formed. Magistrates and citizens, wild Zealanders, 
emaciated burgher guards, sailors, soldiers, women, 
children, — nearly every living person within the walls, 
all repaired without delay to the great church, stout 
Admiral Boisot leading the way. The starving and 
Bread was thrown . . , crowd: See note 14. 



The Siege, Rescue, and Relief. 67 

heroic city, which had been so firm in its resistance to 
an earthly king, now bent itself in humble gratitude be- 
fore the King of kings. After prayers, the whole vast 
congregation joined in the thanksgiving hymn. Thou- 
sands of voices raised the song, but few were able to 
carry it to its conclusion, for the universal emotion, 
deepened by the music, became too full for utterance. 
The hymn was abruptly suspended, while the multitude 
wept like children. This scene of honest pathos ter- 
minated, the necessary measures for distributing the 
food and for relieving the sick were taken by the 
magistracy. 

A note despatched to the Prince of Orange, was re- 
ceived by him at two o'clock, as he sat in church at 
Delft. It was of a somewhat different purport from 
that of the letter which he had received early in the 
same day from Boisot ; the letter in which the Admiral 
had informed him that the success of the enterprise de- 
pended, after all, upon the desperate assault upon a 
nearly impregnable fort. The joy of the Prince may 
be easily imagined, and so soon as the sermon was con- 
cluded, he handed the letter just received to the min- 
ister, to be read to the congregation. Thus, all 
participated in his joy, and united with him in thanks- 
giving. 

The next day, notwithstanding the urgent entreaties 
of his friends, who were anxious lest his life should be 
endangered by breathing, in his scarcely convalescent 
state, the air of the city where so many thousands had 
been dying of the pestilence, the Prince repaired to 
Leyden. He, at least, had never doubted his own or 
his country's fortitude. They could, therefore, most 
sincerely congratulate each other, now that the victory 



68 The Siege of Leyden. 

had been achieved. " If we are doomed to perish," 
he had said a little before the commencement of the 
siege, " in the name of God, be it so ! At any rate, we 
shall have the honor to have done what no nation ever 
did before us, that of having defended and maintained 
ourselves, unaided, in so small a country, against the 
tremendous efforts of such powerful enemies. So long 
as the poor inhabitants here, though deserted by all the 
world, hold firm, it will still cost the Spaniards the half 
of Spain, in money and in men, before they can make 
an end of us." 

The termination of the terrible siege of Leyden was 
a convincing proof to the Spaniards that they had not 
yet made an end of the Hollanders. It furnished, also, 
a sufficient presumption that until they had made an 
end of them, even unto the last Hollander, there would 
never be an end of the struggle in which they were en- 
gaged. " It was a slender consolation to the Governor- 
general, that his troops had been vanquished, not by the 
enemy, but by the ocean. An enemy whom the ocean 
obeyed with such docility might well be deemed invinci- 
ble by man. 

In the headquarters of Valdez, at Leyderdorp, many 
plans of Leyden and the neighborhood were found ly- 
ing in confusion about the room. Upon the table was 
a hurried farewell of that General to the scenes of his 
discomfiture, written in a Latin worthy of Juan Vargas : 
" Vale civitas, valete castelli parvi, qui relicti estis prop- 
ter aquam et non per vim inimicorum ! " In his precipi- 

The termination . . . Leyden: See note 15. 

Vale . . . inimicorum : Farewell state, farewell little forts, who 
art abandoned on account of water, and not because of the power 
of enemies. 



The Siege, Rescue, and Relief. 



6 9 



tate retreat before the advancing rebels, the Commander 
had but just found time for this elegant effusion, and 
for his parting instructions to Colonel Borgia that the 
fortress of Lammen was to be forthwith abandoned. 




City Hall on the Broad street, Leyden. — The Chronogram. 

From a Photograph. 

These having been reduced to writing, Valdez had fled so 
speedily as to give rise to much censure and more scan- 
dal. He was even accused of having been bribed by 
the Hollanders to desert his post, a tale which many 
repeated, and a few believed. 



7<D The Siege of Leyden. 

On the 4th of October, the day following that on 
which the relief of the city was effected, the wind 
shifted to the northeast, and again blew a tempest. It 
was as if the waters, having now done their work, had 
been rolled back to the ocean by an Omnipotent hand, 
for in the course of a few days, the land was bare again, 
and the work of reconstructing the dykes commenced. 

After a brief interval of repose, Leyden had regained 
its former position. The Prince, with advice of the 
estates, had granted the city, as a reward for its suffer- 
ings, a ten days' annual fair, without tolls or taxes, and 
as a further manifestation of the gratitude entertained 
by the people of Holland and Zealand for the heroism 
of the citizens, it was resolved that an academy or 
university should be forthwith established within their 
walls. The University of Leyden, afterward so illus- 
trious, was thus founded in the very darkest period of 
the country's struggle. 

The University was endowed with a handsome revenue, 
principally derived from the ancient abbey of Egmont, 
and was provided with a number of professors, selected 
for their genius, learning, and piety among all the most dis- 
tinguished scholars of the Netherlands. The document 
by which the institution was founded was certainly a 
masterpiece of ponderous irony, for as the fiction of 
the King's sovereignty was still maintained, Philip was 
gravely made to establish the University, as a reward to 
Leyden for rebellion to himself. " Considering," said 
this wonderful charter, " that during these present 
wearisome wars within our provinces of Holland and 
Zealand, all good instruction of youth in the sciences 

Abbey of Egmont : See note 16. 

The fiction of the King's sovereignty : See note 17. 



The Siege, Rescue, and Relief. 71 




Philip II. King of Spain. 




In all things faithful to the King, even to the bearing of the Beggar's Pouch 




" If God be with us, who can be against us r 

Beggar's Medals. 

From Old Prints. 



72 The Siege of Leyden. 

and liberal arts is likely to come into entire obliv- 
ion. . . . Considering the differences of religion — 
considering that we are inclined to gratify our city of 
Leyden, with its burghers, on account of the Jieavy bur- 
thens sustained by them dttring this war with such faith- 
fulness — we have resolved, after ripely deliberating with 
ou,r dear cousin, William, Prince of Orange, stadholder, 
to erect a free public school and university," etc., etc., 
etc. So ran the document establishing this famous 
academy, all needful regulations for the government 
and police of the institution being intrusted by Philip 
to his " above-mentioned dear cousin of Orange." 

The University having been founded, endowed, and 
supplied with its teachers, it was solemnly consecrated 
in the following winter, and it is agreeable to contem- 
plate this scene of harmless pedantry, interposed, as it 
was, between the acts of the longest and dreariest 
tragedy of modern time. On the 5th of February, 
1575, the city of Leyden, so lately the victim of famine 
and pestilence, had crowned itself with flowers. At 
seven in the morning, after a solemn religious celebra- 
tion in the Church of St. Peter, a grand procession was 
formed. It was preceded by a military escort, consisting 
of the burgher militia and the five companies of infantry 
stationed in the city. Then came, drawn by four horses, 
a splendid triumphal chariot, on which sat a female fig- 
ure, arrayed in snow-white garments. This was the Holy 
Gospel. She was attended by the Four Evangelists, who 
walked on foot at each side of her chariot. Next fol- 
lowed Justice, with sword and scales, mounted, blind- 
fold, upon a unicorn, while those learned doctors, Julian, 
Papinian, Ulpian, and Tribonian, rode on either side, 
attended by two lackeys and four men at arms. After 



The Siege, Rescue, and Relief. 73 

these came Medicine, on horseback, holding in one hand 
a treatise of the healing art, in the other a garland of 
drugs. The curative goddess rode between the four 
eminent physicians, Hippocrates, Galen, Dioscorides, 
and Theophrastus, and was attended by two footmen 
and four pike-bearers. Last of the allegorical person- 
ages came Minerva, prancing in complete steel, with 
lance in rest, and bearing her Medusa shield. Aris- 
totle and Plato, Cicero and Virgil, all on horseback, with 
attendants in antique armor at their back, surrounded 
the daughter of Jupiter, while the city band, discoursing 
eloquent music from hautboy and viol, came upon the 
heels of the allegory. Then followed the mace-bearers 
and other officials, escorting the orator of the day, the 
newly appointed professors and doctors, the magistrates 
and dignitaries, and the body of the citizens generally 
completing the procession. 

Marshalled in this order, through triumphal arches, 
and over a pavement strewed with flowers, the pro- 
cession moved slowly up and down the different streets, 
and along the quiet canals of the city. As it reached 
the Nun's Bridge, a barge of triumph, gorgeously 
decorated, came floating slowly down the sluggish 
Rhine. Upon its deck, under a canopy enwreathed 
with laurels and oranges, and adorned with tapestry, 
sat Apollo, attended by the Nine Muses, all in classical 
costume ; at the helm stood Neptune with his trident. 
The Muses executed some beautiful concerted pieces ; 
Apollo twanged his lute. Having reached the landing- 
place, this deputation from Parnassus stepped on shore, 
and stood awaiting the arrival of the procession. Each 
professor, as he advanced, was gravely embraced and 
The Nurts Bridge : See note 18. The procession : See note 19. 



74 The Siege of Leyden. 

kissed by Apollo and all the Nine Muses in turn, who 
greeted their arrival besides with the recitation of an 
elegant Latin poem. 

This classical ceremony terminated, the whole pro- 
cession marched together to the cloister of St. Bar- 
bara, the place prepared for the new University, where 
they listened to an eloquent oration by the Rev. Caspar 
Kolhas, after which they partook of a magnificent ban- 
quet. With this memorable feast, in the place where 
famine had so lately reigned, the ceremonies were con- 
cluded. 

One solitary boy : See note 13. 

The great church: That is, St. Peter's Church, erected 13 15, 
under which so many famous men were buried, and on the south wall 
of which is the great bronze tablet reared by Americans to the mem- 
ory of John Robinson and the Pilgrim Fathers. 



The Siege, Rescue, and Relief. 



75 




Gateway Showing the Arms of Leyuen. 

Leyden. 



On the Bree Straat 



St. Peter and the Keys, with the Ram's Head, symbol of the city's wealth in 

wool and cloth (Leyden Arms). 

From a photograph. 



NOTES. 

Note i. Alva: p. 12. Alva on coming into the Netherlands had 
promised to make " a stream of silver a yard deep " flow into the 
coffers of the King of Spain. He had levied an extra tax of " the 
tenth penny," or ten per cent, on things bought and sold. The Dutch 
were perfectly willing to pay taxes, but they wished to vote the 
money themselves. " No taxation without consent " was their maxim 
and rule. It was oppression of the purse, as well as of the con- 
science, that made the revolt in the Netherlands so general. 

Note 2. The Prince of Orange: p. 13. " William the Silent," 
"Pater Patriae" (The Father of his Country), "the Prince," "the 
Stadholder," were some of the names or titles by which this 
leader of Dutch liberty was called. Born at Dillenburg, Nassau, 
April 25, 1533, he became the page of Charles V., emperor, and was 
intrusted with many missions of importance. At eleven, by the 
death of his cousin, Rene', Prince of Orange, he had inherited his 
kinsman's title and estates. He was made the king's lieutenant, 
stad or place-holder, in Holland. He resisted the introduction of 
the Spanish inquisition, and when Alva invaded the Netherlands, 
he raised an army in Germany to give battle. Yet although he 
spent his fortune, he could not succeed in winning any victories 
in the field. Nevertheless, he so organized resistance to Spain, and 
by his faith, courage, tenacity, and personal magnetism, so encour- 
aged the Dutch people, that they continued their war for freedom 
during eighty years. His life was often attempted by assassins, one 
of whom, Balthasar Gerard, succeeded in shooting him at Delft, 
July 10, 1584. He left three sons and nine daughters, and his blood 
runs in many of the royal families of Europe. His motto, " Je Main- 
tiendrai " (I will maintain), is that of the Dutch nation. He was the 
first great champion in Europe of freedom of conscience. 

Note 3. Mondragon : p. 14. "Good old Mondragon," as his sol- 
diers called him, was one of the most famous of the Spanish colonels. 
Born at the beginning of the century, he lived to fight and win 

77 

LtfC. 



78 Notes. 

battles when over ninety years old. He had been, before his death 
in 1596, in nearly every war in Europe of the sixteenth century. 
" His battlefields had been on land and water, on ice, in fire, and at 
the bottom of the sea, 1 ' and he had been once blown up in a castle, 
which was knocked to ruins ; but had never received a wound or lost 
a drop of blood. In 1573, he led three thousand brave troops from 
Bergen op Zoom, through water chin deep, over a slippery ridge, 
twelve miles, during a march of five hours, to relieve Goes, then be- 
sieged. To-day, in Spain, his descendants glory in their ancestor, 
u the Marquis of the Honorable Passage." His sword is set up on 
high as a lightning rod. His battered corselet is preserved in Vienna. 
V Note 4. Pike men and Musketeers : p. 21. In the battles of this 
century, the pike was the chief weapon of the infantry. The pike 
was an ash-wood pole eighteen feet long, with a spike of iron at the 
end, so that a moving body of pikemen looked like a lumber yard 
in motion. The musketeers, or shotmen, were ranged at the sides 
of the square. Each carried twelve bandoliers or charges of powder 
in horn or wooden tubes, hung by double strings, with a bullet bag 
at the belt. The heavy muskets had to be supported on an iron 
rest. In 1670, cartridge boxes took the place of the dangling ban- 
doliers, but the pike was not abandoned until 1703. The invention 
of the bayonet united the pike and the musket in one weapon. 

Note 5. An unknown grave : p. 27. Professor P. J. Blok, of 
Leyden, has written a life of Count Louis, and largely through his 
efforts there was erected in 1895, in the church at Mook, a hand- 
somely inscribed monument, in colored marbles, to the memory of 
Counts Louis and Adolph, whose was " the generous blood of the 
Nassaus." 

Note 6. Count John: p. 27. Count John of Nassau, whose fine 
bronze monument stands in front of the new edifice of the Univer- 
sity of Utrecht, finished in 1897, was the chief agent, after William 
the Silent, in bringing about the union of the seven provinces,which 
became the Dutch Republic, and lasted from 1579 to 1794. It is 
from Count John that Queen Wilhelmina is descended. 

Note 7. Heiliger Lee: p. 27. The Lexington of the Dutch war 
of independence, in eastern Groningen, near the German frontier. 
In 1873, after the three hundredth anniversary of the battle fought 
May 23, 1568, in which Count Adolph had been slain, a handsome 
monument was erected at Heiliger Lee. 



Notes. 79 

Note 8. His brothers : p. 28. Four of the five brothers of the 
house of Orange-Nassau poured out their blood in the Dutch war 
for freedom, and in 1594, the son of Count John of Nassau was killed 
in a skirmish with Colonel Mondragon's forces. At that time, ten 
other men of the house and many more relatives were fighting under 
the red, white, and blue Dutch flag. 

Note 9. Holland and Zealand: p. 36. These were but two of 
the seventeen provinces of the Netherlands, which, by marriage of 
the counts and princes, had passed successively under the rule of the 
houses of Bavaria, Burgundy, and Spain. Note the seventeen dot- 
tings on the upper left-hand quartering of the arms of William of 
Orange, and on the shield of Holland, or the kingdom of the Nether- 
lands at the present day. 

Note 10. Beggars: p. 44, and p. 71. The name given to and ac- 
cepted by the patriots. First applied to the nobles, who, headed by 
Brederode, handed a petition to the Regent in Brussels in 1566, and 
taken up at their banquet the same night. On land and sea, the men 
who fought under the red, white, and blue flag wore in gold, silver, or 
lead a medal having stamped on it the image of the King, and the 
figure of a pouch used to hold cold victuals, with the motto, " Faith- 
ful to the King, even to the bearing of the beggars pouch." After 
1 581, and the Dutch Declaration of Independence, these medals dis- 
appeared from the breasts of the various "Wild," "Water," "Mud," 
or other Dutch " Beggars," who were then citizens, and no longer 
subjects. 

Note ii. The vanes of the steeples : p. 54. In the Netherlands 
and in the cities of the middle states in America settled by the Dutch, 
the cock of St. Nicholas (" Santa Claus," as we say, after the 
Dutch Sint Niklaas) is the favorite form of the vane on the church 
spire, the monitor of vigilance to St. Peter (the patron saint of Ley- 
den, the arms of which are the crossed keys held by a lion), and the 
emblem of the resurrection. 

Note 12. The Cow-gate: p. 64. One of the seven gateways, on 
the south side of the city, toward the rescuing fleet, not far from the 
Vliet. It was somewhat over a hundred rods from St. Peter's Church 
and the Veiled Nun's Cloister, which became the University build- 
ing, and Clock Alley, in which was the pilgrim settlement from 161 2 
to 1625. 

Note 13. One solitary boy : p. 64. Gisbert Cornelissen, whose 



80 Notes. 

name is engraved on the Spanish cooking-pot, and is No. 2589 
among the curiosities and relics in the Leyden Municipal Museum. 

Note 14. Bread was thrown : p. 66. Especially at the Cow-gate, 
where the boats entered. To-day the visitor in Leyden can easily 
find the place. It is where, along the Zoeterwoude Way, one enters 
from the south by boat on the Vliet, or by land over the Doeza 
bridge into Doeza Street. To the left is Boisot kade, or the quay 
named after the rescuer Admiral Boisot, fronting which is the new 
archives building, in which are the city records that tell so much 
about the Pilgrim Fathers. 

Note 15. The termination of the siege: p. 68. This second siege 
of 1574 lasted one hundred and thirty-one days. On the City Hall 
front is a chronogram of one hundred and thirty-one letters, in curi- 
ous old Dutch, in which capital Cs and W's and I's are numerals. 
This reads, when translated literally, " When the black famine had 
brought to the death nearly six thousand persons, then God the 
Lord repented of it, and gave us bread again, as much as we could 
wish." 

Note 16. The abbey of Eg??iont : p. 70. This ancient abbey of 
Egmont, near Alkmaar in North Holland, was the most famous in 
the northern Netherlands. In the abbey church, now in ruins, 
many of the ancient counts of Holland were buried, and in the clois- 
ters were written the annals on which the history of Holland is based. 

Note 17. The fiction of the King's sovereignty : p. 70. A similar 
fiction of law was kept up by the English Parliament which issued 
commissions in the name of King Charles I., even while fighting him. 
So, until July 4, 1776, were many of the documents of the Con- 
tinental Congress in tht name of King George III. The fiction of 
the sovereignty of the King of Spain over the Netherlands was kept 
up until July, 1591, when the act of abjuration was passed, making 
the Dutch states free and independent. 

Note 18. The NurCs Bridge: p. 73. Where Clock Alley meets 
the Rapenburg, and at which, in 1620, the first settlers of Massa- 
chusetts gathered to begin their journey by water to America. 

Note 19. The procession: p. 73. To this day these costume- 
processions are in great favor with the Dutch. The University stu- 
dents frequently celebrate some event of renown by donning historic 
garb, and with more or less of allegorical representation, reproduce 
the splendor of the past. I have witnessed several of these. 



H *9i 85 * 




(V , o « o 



V < 



o 






4 o 

• ; ° 9 <y 




°* ••»' 






,/\ 






















*° . 






a>V 







1 ' ' <t ^K 



V* 




^ s\ v * f(\\ «» A ^#v C* * 



VV 



vv 






v 







"-"••' J>* 



v v 











"■: %*♦* 






** 

^O 









4 O 






.0 




HECKMAN 

BINDERY INC. 

^ NOV 85 

«KpI^ n manchesti 



^^ NUV o? Ly 

#(i» N.MANCHESTER, I C> 

vfe^ INDIANA 46962 I -/* 

" • 



LIBRARY 




